A Flash
by poestheblackcat
Summary: A flash is all it takes for Alec to notice the girl with the locket before she disappears. Meet Alec’s sweet and spunky daughter Sarah. Of course, she gets in trouble; like father like daughter. Set several years after FN. M/A-ish, past A/Rachel
1. Chapter 1

Summary: A flash is all it takes for Alec to notice the young girl with the locket. Enter Alec's sweet-yet-spunky daughter with Rachel, Sarah. Of course, she gets in trouble—like father like daughter. Future fic. Not as bad as it sounds. Major spoilers for "The Berrisford Agneda".

AN: I know, I'm a bad writer. I said I'd write one story, then I posted a preview of another and got everyone all riled up and ready for both of them, and then I go and post this. Sorry. This plot bunny just came into my head and interrupted me in the middle of my other story by hopping all over the place, metaphorically. It wouldn't go away. I just did a semi-fatherly Dean Winchester, so I wanted to try my hand at fatherly Alec. Well, here goes. If you're going to throw anything at me, please let it be soft pillows or nice reviews, not mushy stinky rotten tomatoes. ;D

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters not mine, yadda-yadda.

**A Flash**

**Chapter 1**

As Alec emerged from the government building, loosening his stifling tie slightly, he prepared himself for the barrage of questions from the swarm of newshounds waiting outside the door. In the seven years since the transgenics had declared themselves a free people, a new nation—a "Freak Nation", as they were also referred to—Alec had become accustomed to this. As the second-in-command of the transgenic people, Alec often met with the local law, politicians, and the like, as well as the reporters, to help take the load off of Max's shoulders. Max, now known as the "mother of her people", was at this time closeted with a different set of government representatives. Poor Maxie. She'd be especially cranky today.

Alec put on the smile he reserved for the public, the easy-going friendly smile all politicians seem to wear, and waved for the cameras. Manticore would be horrified if they could see him now, all signs of the covert killing machine they had created hidden under the very public persona of Alec McDowell, negotiator of peace.

He scanned the crowd, looking for signs of danger. He was, after all, someone a lot of people wanted very badly to get rid of, not just because of his altered genes, but because of his vice president-like status. Risks came with the territory.

Camera, camera, pen, pad, camera—wait, was that a gun?—no, it was just a tape recorder, microphone, and then—

It was only a flash, but it caught his eye. Alec used his cat-like vision to zero in on the small figure almost hidden behind the group of reporters eager to get his statement on the status of the negotiations between the city and the transgenics.

It was a little girl, not yet ten, with large vivid green eyes and thick waves of dark hair. What he had seen, however, was the silver locket at her neck. It was the same heart-shaped locket that he had returned to Rachel when he'd—

The girl gasped and her eyes widened slightly when she saw Alec looking at her. Then she ducked behind the slightly rotund reporter next to her and somehow managed to disappear from Alec's sight.

Alec frowned in confusion, the scene that had just occurred playing in his head, meshing with long-buried memories of his lost love, making him forget his current duties. The cameras flashed again and Alec brought himself back to the present.

He managed to make his statement to the eager pack without them never noticing that anything was off and got into the car that was waiting for him on the curb. Dalton, who'd attached himself to Alec as his personal aide back in 2021 after their declaration of freedom, did notice from his position beside and slightly to the back of the X5, but he refrained from saying anything, his concern showing only in his eyes.

Alec was uncharacteristically quiet during the ride back to Terminal City and the rest of the day as well. He seemed lost in thought and Max teased him more than once about him finally learning to shut up and asked him if he was trying to grow a brain. She was worried, however, when he merely gave her a half-smile and told her he needed to get some fresh air, stretch his legs out a little. The last time he'd gotten all quiet like that and had said almost those exact words…Well, the outcome hadn't been too pleasant.

Max watched the retreating figure, a little crease in the middle of her forehead, wondering if she should follow him. She decided against it. He'd sense her coming a mile off. It seemed like he had a sixth sense for knowing when she was around, and since he did talk to her and Joshua when he needed to nowadays, instead of bottling it all inside like he did when he first got out of Manticore, Max figured he'd come back afterwards more relaxed and then she'd tackle him about what had crawled up his ass that day.

Yeah, that was the plan.

AN: So, what'd you think? Keep going? Or stop? I've got a few more chapters already written out which I'll post right away if you like what I have so far.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Alec gets the shock of his life (so far). Kinda cute.

Disclaimer: You know it. I'm not gonna keep writing it every chapter.

**Chapter 2**

Alec walked down to the garage where his motorcycle was parked after changing out of the suit he'd taken to wearing when meeting with government officials and donning more comfortable clothes, similar to those he'd used to wear in his days as a Jam Pony bike messenger.

He'd been thinking all day about the necklace. Why did that girl have it? It was a family heirloom; he knew that from the portrait in Berrisford's house. Maybe she was a cousin or something of Rachel's. It couldn't hurt to find out, though, could it?

Alec steered his motorcycle towards sector 10. He slowed it to a crawl as he neared Robert Berrisford's residence.

The house looked exactly the same, everything the way he remembered it. He parked the bike out of the range of the security cameras and looked for a place from which he could enter undetected. He trusted the darkness to cloak his movements as he vaulted easily over the iron-wrought gate.

He scouted the perimeter of the house first, glad he did so when he spotted a pajama-clad figure sitting on the edge of the swimming pool, swinging her feet in the water. It was the same girl, this time with a troubled expression on her pixie-like face, full lips arranged in a pretty pout.

As he neared on silent feet, she seemed to sense something, and looked up with a gasp. She scrambled up onto her feet and stood there staring at him, the water trickling down her bare legs. She wasn't scared. Alec could see that in her face, and it confused him a little. After all, a guy had just broken onto the property and was standing in front of her, a mere child.

For several seconds, the only sound besides the water pump from the pool was their breathing, both their breaths coming in rapid bursts. The girl broke the silence first.

"You followed me?" she asked, not sounding angry, but apprehensive.

Alec tore his gaze away from the over-expressive eyes down to the necklace visible from the neckline of the blue shirt of her nightclothes and back up again. "No. I came here because I saw your locket and I-I…" he stammered.

The girl glanced down, too, her dark locks swinging down to cover part of her heart-shaped face. "The locket? It was my mother's. She died when I was a baby." She looked up again, as if searching Alec's face for something.

Her mother's? Last he knew of it, Rachel had had it after he'd given it back to her that night right before she'd died, and it seemed unlikely that Robert Berrisford would let anything that had been so precious to his beloved dead daughter go. "Your mother? Who was she?" he ventured to ask.

The young girl blinked and bit her lip. "Her name was Rachel," she said. "You knew her, didn't you?" This last was asked hesitantly, green eyes still carefully scrutinizing Alec's face.

Alec breathed hard, staring at the girl, looking for any trace of Rachel in her delicate features. There was the hair, for one, and the shape of her face, and the way that she fidgeted with the chain of her necklace whenever she was nervous, as this child undoubtedly was. "Who are you?" he whispered.

The girl cocked her head. "I told you. I'm Rachel Berrisford's daughter. My name's Sarah," she said nervously, one hand playing with the locket and the other arm wrapped protectively around herself.

Alec swallowed. "And your father?" His voice shook. Was it possible--? It had been nine years since—since Rachel.

The girl was watching him carefully now, eying him as if she suddenly feared him. She took a deep breath before answering. "He was her piano teacher. His name was Simon."

The world lurched to a stop for Alec. He gaped at Sarah. Could it be? He and Rachel had been together only once. Had Rachel been pregnant when the bomb knocked her into a coma?

The girl went on, brazened by his reaction. "That's you, isn't it? Simon Lehane. Only you're using a different name now."

Alec found his voice. "How? How do you know all this? How did you even find me?"

Sarah shifted her position. "I found my mom's diary last year. I read it." She had the grace to blush, slipping a look at Alec from under lowered eyelids. "She had a picture of you. Then I saw you on the news on tv the other day and I wanted to see you up close."

Alec's revved up brain had processed this revelation with admirable speed. "Are you sure?" he blurted out. Or not.

As he really looked at the girl, this time seing himself in her hazel-green eyes, her high cheekbones, and her full mouth, he knew without a doubt that she indeed was his flesh and blood.

Sarah gave a tentative smirk. "Well, yeah. My mom wrote everything in there. And I mean _everything_." She grinned. "Thanks to her, I know a whole lot of things no eight-year-old should know. And you were the only one." She shrugged. "So yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Alec chuckled, a matching smile spreading over his features. Oh yeah, she was his kid alright.

* * *

AN: Yeah, yeah, I know. They said on the commentary for the episode that Alec and Rachel did not in fact have sex in the pool, and in my world, they didn't. I'm just saying they might have had done it after. Like maybe after she told him that she loved him. Or after the lesson that day, anyway.

Let me know what you think. I want to know, even if it's to tell me that this sucks…sniffle.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Kinda short, sorry.

**Chapter 3**

Sarah shifted her weight from her heels to the balls of her feet then back to her heels again, rolling back and forth. "So."

Alec looked down and shook his head in amazement, the smile still on his face. "So. Now what?" He looked up at her again. "You wanted to meet me? I don't think your grandfather will exactly appreciate me busting into your life now." He corrected himself at Sarah's crestfallen expression. "Don't get me wrong. I would love to be your father, you know, be a dad and all, but last time he and I talked…well, let's just say he doesn't like me very much."

Sarah chewed at her lip. "It's hard, you know, not having parents. It's just me and my grandpa, and most times, he can't even look at me without seeing _her_,and then he looks sad, or else I guess he sees you, and then he—he hates me," she exclaimed, tears springing unbidden to her eyes.

Alec closed the distance between them in a flash and knelt down, enveloping his daughter in his arms. It felt natural to do it and her small body fitted against his as if she had been made to do so. "No, no, no, don't think that. I'm sure he doesn't hate you. He might hate me, but not you. You're his daughter's daughter and I'm sure he loves you. I've only just met you and I love you already," he murmured into Sarah's hair, memorizing her scent.

"I love you, too…Dad," she sniffled, burrowing her face into his shoulder. They stayed there for a minute, in their first father-daughter embrace.

When they pulled away, Sarah's brow was furrowed in thought. "Does the reason why Grandpa doesn't like you have to do with how my mom was sick for two years before she died?" She gazed at her father earnestly. "I mean, I know someone put a bomb under the car and she got Grandpa out but she got hurt instead because of the blast." She stopped as Alec flinched. "That's all they told me, but I'm not stupid. I'm still a kid, but I'm not a baby and I'm not dumb. I know that you're a transgenic, I know that they trained you to—to—"

"To kill people?" Alec finished quietly. "Are you asking me if I killed your mother?"

Sarah's lower lip trembled slightly and her luminescent eyes widened, shining green in the refracted light from the pool and shining with tears. "I guess. Yeah. Did you?" she queried in a shaky voice.

Alec took several shallow breaths before answering. "The truth? I planted the bomb but I didn't push the trigger. I might as well have, but I couldn't. I told her to get out, run away, to save herself, and—and that's what got her killed." He paused, his own eyes filling with tears. "I'm so sorry, Sarah," he whispered, gently lifting a brown curl aside to cup his daughter's cheek in his hand, his thumb brushing away a tear.

"You never told me the whole story," came from the doorway leading out to the pool. Alec snatched his hand away as they both whipped around to see Robert Berrisford standing there, unarmed from what was visible to Alec, but his look was murderous enough to kill.

AN: Dun-dun-duuuun. Uh-oh, will Berrisford try to kill Alec again?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Grandpa!" Sarah gasped.

Alec unconsciously moved in front of her, shielding her from the old man's view. "You never asked for my side of it," he countered, his voice still quiet, but everything about him, his gaze, the way he held himself, was snapping with tension.

Berrisford looked his age as he said harshly, walking forward, "I did ask you not to go to her grave again, however, and I assumed you understood not to come here as well, Simon, or Alec, or whatever your name is nowadays."

"It's Alec," he snapped automatically. Damn, Max really was getting to him. "I just had to know…Why didn't you tell me about Sarah back then, or after? I deserved to know that I have a daughter. I know I didn't do right by Rachel, I didn't understand then and I hurt her, but you had no right to keep Sarah from me," Alec seethed. This time he wasn't backing off without a fight. She was his daughter, after all, his flesh and blood. She needed him, had told him that she did.

Berrisford's eyes blazed. He directed his gaze at the small pajama-clad figure. "Sarah, go to your room. I don't want you to ever speak to him again, do you understand?"

"No," Sarah stormed. "He's my father, you can't stop me from seeing him," she burst out stubbornly, facing her grandfather.

He looked grim as he told her, "Do as I say, Sarah. He's a transgenic. There are people out there wanting to kill everyone like him and they won't stop at killing you, too, if they found out. He's too dangerous to be in your life."

"No," she cried again, rushing at Alec and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Please," she begged.

Upon hearing Berrisford's words, Alec had locked gazes with the older man, understanding dawning. He was trying to protect the only family he had left, in the only way that he could. And dammit, it hurt them all to do it.

He ran his hand through Sarah's hair, so much like Rachel's, and squatted down to her eye level, one arm around her back and the other still tangled in the smooth dark waves. He swallowed. "Sarah, I hate to say this, I really do, but he's right. I am dangerous. My life right now, it's too dangerous for you to get involved," he said gently. "It doesn't mean that I love you any less, it just means that the people close to me are likely to get hurt, and I don't want that to happen to you. Okay?"

She still clung to him, recognizing the resignation, the pleading, in his voice, but not giving in yet. She saw the logic; all anyone had ever seemed to want to do in her short life was to protect her, but maybe she didn't want to be so sheltered. Sarah sobbed into Alec's shoulder, clutching at his jacket, refusing to let go. "But I just found you. I don't want to be an orphan anymore." She sniffed. "Will I even see you again?"

Alec's voice caught in his throat so that he couldn't speak, but Berrisford answered for him. "No, Sarah. Not for a while, at least. I'm sending you away. To your cousins in New York."

Sarah's head shot up at this and she turned imploring eyes to the old man. "No. Don't. Please don't. I'll be good. I promise. I promise. Don't send me away, Grandpa."

Robert Berrisford relented a little. He was not, after all, a hard man, and he disliked being made the enemy here. He sighed. "Sarah. Go to your room. We'll talk later, all right, honey?" he said gently.

Alec swallowed and pried the shaking form away from him, his heart breaking once again as he did so. "You better listen to him, kiddo. Just….I'll be here whenever you need me, okay? I'm just a phone call away," he said, glancing over to Berrisford, challenging him to deny it. He didn't. Alec pulled out a pen and wrote out the number to his cell phone on her slender hand. A hand made for playing piano. He shook that thought out of his head. "Here's my number. You call me anytime you need anything, or if you just want to talk, okay?"

Sarah was still now, looking down at the ten numbers scrawled on her palm in black ink. She wished that they would never wash off. Not because they would remind her forever of what her father's phone number was—she'd already memorized it with a glance—but because it was the one tangible thing that he was leaving her with. And he _was_ leaving. She gulped. "Okay." Looking up at Alec's face, she asked, "Really anytime?"

Alec smiled, stroking her face gently. "Really anytime."

Sarah hugged him once more, savoring each moment, before heading slowly for the door, half walking backwards so that she could keep eye contact with him until she turned the corner. Alec watched her go with more than a little longing in his eyes. "I always fall for the ones I can't have," he mused.

Berrisford's shoulders slumped a little and he looked older than he actually was as he said softly, "You really did care then and you really do care now, don't you?"

Alec tore his gaze from the door his newly-found daughter had passed through, feeling as if she had been torn from him. "Yeah. This time, I'm gonna do it right. I'm gonna keep Sarah safe, if it's the last thing I do." This was said with all the determination he could muster, and boy, was Alec McDowell, formerly known as X5-494, one tenacious guy when he put his mind to it.

AN: I'm mean, and don't I know it. Keeping Alec away from his little girl. Cackles evilly. Anybody cry? I kinda teared up writing this.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Ooh. A Max and Alec chapter. Max is pissed off as usual and Alec is…well, you'll see.

**Chapter 5**

Max ground her teeth in frustration. Stubborn, pigheaded, stupid _jerk_. Idiot. Ass. She wanted to smack his dummy head so hard it would fly off all the way to Canada for making her worry about him like this. No. Make that China.

For three weeks, he had been acting weird, all quiet and "Heathcliff-like", as her sista Original Cindy had put it once. Three long weeks with hardly a smart-ass comment or cocky comeback. Trust him to be able to annoy her by _not _being annoying!

Glaring at her SIC working diligently across the room, she wondered what had caused this relapse and blamed it on whatever had occurred on that day she had nixed following him. He had come back even more sullen than when he'd left and wouldn't even tell Joshua what was up. Whenever he was in his apartment, he'd play that damn piano for hours on end instead of sleeping or watching his "boob tube", which were normal Alec activities. Everyone in Terminal City had noticed the abrupt change in Alec and there were worried murmurs about his behavior.

Of course, while in the public spotlight, he appeared to be still the same "people person" that he used to be, but it was just an act. When back home at TC, he seemed to be lost deep in thought at times, and was quite somber at others. Don't get the wrong idea; he still laughed and smiled sometimes, but they just fell flat, as if there was no real emotion behind them. The only time he really cheered up was when he answered his freaking cell phone, which had begun to ring more often. He had begun taking some of his calls to where no one could hear the conversation. Max wondered if this was some weird kind of depression or maybe madness and wracked her brain for what she needed to do to get him out of this funk, for her own sanity's sake. Seriously, what was the big secret?

"Stop it, Max," Alec said quietly, putting an abrupt brake on her train of thought. "I can't work with you staring at me and growling like that."

Max slammed her pen down. "Then stop and tell me what the hell is going on with you!" she demanded.

Alec blinked at her slowly. His voice steady and serious, he replied, "I told you. Nothing is going on with me. We've just been really busy with the—"

"Alec. Don't sell me that 'I'm always all right' crap," Max interrupted, exasperated. "You've been moping for almost a month and I think it's about time we talked," she said, standing and walking over to his desk. "Now start."

Alec rubbed his hand tiredly over his face. "What do you want me to say, Max? You wanna talk about my feelings? What I'm thinking? Huh? You wanna have a whole touchy-feely buffet?" He turned his face up to look Max in the eye.

Max crossed her arms across her chest and nailed him with some attitude. "Yeah. Feelings and thoughts. We can start there."

Alec leant back in his chair and mimicked her move. "Fine. I'm thinking that no matter what we do, people out there are always going to hate us, see our kind as inferior, as animals, and that for our children, our children's children—it's just going to be the same hell for them as it was for us. What we want—real _freedom_—it's never gonna happen."

Max stared back at him, jaw hanging open. She gave an unbelieving laugh before speaking. "You really think that? You think that what we're doing right now is useless? You didn't used to think that. I remember you used to be pretty optimistic about all of this."

Alec stood, towering over Max's petite frame. "Well, I'm not anymore," he said coldly. "We've been working our asses off for this for seven years and what do we have to show for it? Almost nothing. All we've got is a pretty shaky reassurance that they won't bomb us first thing tomorrow morning. And I'm being pessimistic about this?! I can't even--" He stopped before he could say what he couldn't do.

"You can't even what, Alec?" Max said forcefully. She put her hand on her friend's arm, urging him to look at her, to trust her. She wanted to see his eyes, which sometimes were the only portals to what Alec was really feeling inside. "You can tell me," she said softly, gently.

Alec averted his gaze and sat back down, chest heaving from his outburst. "There's nothing to tell," he said, his voice rough.

Right. Max could be stubborn, too, but nagging at Alec was like head-butting a brick wall repeatedly. She knew from experience. Reluctantly, she huffed back to her desk, intending to keep a close eye on him, even if he wouldn't _talk_ to her.

After a beat, Alec spoke again. "Sorry if I haven't been Mr. Sunshine lately. Just give me some time, Max. I'll work it out." He leveled a look at Max, giving a faint twitch of his lips in lieu of a smile.

"That's just it, Alec. You don't have to do it on your own. I thought you knew that." Max smiled at him sadly.

"Thanks, Max." Alec nodded. "But I—" He was cut off by the ringing of Max's phone. "You better get that."

Max eyed him with a look that said _"We're not finished"_ before answering her phone. "Go for Max."

"_Hey. It's Logan."_ Right, Logan. He was a great guy but he always called at the most inconvenient times. Like now, for instance.

"Hey, Logan. What's up?" She kept her eyes on Alec, who seemed to have gone back to his work after rolling his eyes at hearing who the caller was, but was actually listening to her side of the conversation.

Logan gave a brief pause before speaking. That meant he needed to ask her for a favor. _"Remember my cousin Bitsy's daughter Brittany?"_ The hell? Random.

"Ummm. Yeah. I helped you babysit her when we had that whole mermaid dealio with White. What about her?" Alec had tensed up slightly when she'd said that. "Babysit" was a trigger word. Hmm. Interesting.

"_Turn on the tv,"_ Logan instructed.

Max did so, and Alec gave up all pretenses of trying to appear to be busy with paperwork. The newswoman was reporting on a group kidnapping from a local school. _"…snatched each child when he or she was standing apart from the other children on the playground, as can be seen from this footage."_

The image was shaky and pixilated, but three figures could be seen pulling at a much smaller figure who struggled briefly before falling limply into their arms. She, for the smaller figure was obviously a girl, was slung over one of the men's shoulders, long blonde hair trailing down, and carried to a truck with no license plates. The footage was taken from above, most likely from a hoverdome, hence the grainy picture.

"_The video playing right now is of the abduction of twelve-year-old Brittany Morland from Mariners Elementary School this morning. The three other missing children are Lindsey Harrison, aged 10; Jacob Wright, also aged 10, and Sarah Berrisford, aged 8. For those of you joining us right now…"_

"_Max?"_ came from the phone, Logan's voice tinny over the line.

But Max was busy staring at Alec's reaction. He had paled visibly at the mention of that last name, hands clenching at papers long forgotten. Berrisford, as in _that_ Berrisford? "Yeah. I'm here. So Brittany's been kidnapped and you need my help?"

"_Yeah, that's it. Can you?"_ Logan and Max still had that give-and-take deal going on; Logan would help out with TC with Eyes Only broadcasts and contacts and the like, and Max and Alec would help him out with jobs whenever they could.

"Tell him we'll help," Alec said in a low voice, eyes still glued to the television screen.

Max frowned as she answered. "We'll be there in twenty." She snapped the phone shut before she could hear Logan's_ "Thanks, Max."_

She turned to Alec, who had stood up from his desk by now and was headed to the door, the dazed look replaced by grim determination and…anger? "What is all this about?" she asked, hands on her hips. "Are you doing this to help Logan out or that girl, something Berrisford? You still feeling guilty about what happened almost ten years ago? Like you have to repay Berrisford?"

Alec stopped, hand on the door handle, looking as if he was contemplating something. Apparently he had made up his mind because what he said next was a bombshell that left Max with a shocked expression on her face.

It was uttered quietly, calmly, belying the rigid set to his shoulders. "I'm doing it because Sarah's my daughter."

* * *

AN: Let the adventure begin! What do you think?


	6. Chapter 6

AN: A little more Max and Alec before we get on with the story. Enjoy!

**Chapter 6**

Max found her voice. "What?" she choked out.

Alec turned to face her, expression solemn. "She's my daughter. Now, are you coming or what?"

"B-but how? They said she was like, eight, or something, and Rachel was in the coma…" Max stammered. Alec a father? That had to be the craziest thing she'd ever heard.

"My mission was almost ten years ago. Sarah's turning nine soon," Alec said impatiently. "Max, just come on. I'll explain on the way."

Oh God, he was serious. Max closed her jaw with an audible click and started for the door. "Okay. Let's blaze."

"So uh, you and Rachel--?" Max started once she caught up to Alec. Running a little to match his stride, she had followed him through to Command Center, where Alec had informed Mole where they were going, putting him in charge until their return.

"Yep," he replied curtly.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a kid? I mean, we've known each other for eight years, so that's a pretty long time to keep a secret like that. Does Josh know?" The questions poured out, once she started asking them.

Reaching the motorcycles, Alec glanced at Max while he got on his lime-green Duke, Max on her black Ninja. "I never knew about her until a short while ago. I guess around the time you noticed me starting to act a little…weird. And no, I haven't told anybody until now."

The pair of them cruised out of the gates of their city. "So how'd you find out?" Max asked, raising her voice slightly so she could be heard over the wind.

"Sarah tracked me down." Alec grinned proudly, his expression positively giddy as he looked over at Max when he answered. "She's smart like that. She gets good grades in school and is even a grade ahead and she's got loads of friends."

Alec never failed to amaze Max. "She sounds great. And all those calls you've been getting..?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I gave her my number."

"So when do you have your quality father-daughter time? 'Cause I noticed you're in TC whenever you're not working." Max stopped when she caught the expression of complete anguish that flashed across Alec's face before he managed to cover it up.

"No," he said, his voice almost lost in the wind, "I've only met her once. Berrisford and I decided that seeing me isn't safe for her, you know, me being a transgenic and all." This last was said quite bitterly and what he'd said earlier now made sense to Max. He was going to say that the way things were now, he couldn't even see his own daughter.

Max positioned her bike closer to his as she said reassuringly, "I'm sorry. We'll find her, Alec. We'll find her."

Alec clenched his jaw before answering. "I'm gonna kill the sons of bitches who took my daughter," he said, voice steely. "And before I do, I'm gonna make them sorry they ever laid a hand on her." Something Max had once heard on a nature show about a mother animal defending her young from danger popped into her head. Only this was the father and he was pissed.

"Alec," She said sharply. "No killing. Remember?"

"Yeah. Right. No killing. Then those guys are in for a severe ass-beating," Alec growled. His knuckles were white, his fingers gripping the handles so hard Max thought he was going to warp the metal.

After a minute of riding in silence, Alec turned to her, considerably less agitated. "Thanks, Max. You know, for being my friend and all." He ducked his head, a gesture he tended to make when he was uncomfortable and dropped his speed slightly. "Sorry I've uh," he cleared his throat, "Sorry I've been worrying you these past couple weeks. I…I've had a lot on my mind."

Max gave him her famous _"you're an idiot"_ look. "Yeah, well, next time just tell me."

"Before I get my ass in a shitload of trouble?" Alec finished with a faint smirk.

Max smirked, too. "Exactly." With that, they revved up their motors and sped towards their destination.

Upon reaching the school, the two transgenics saw that it was surrounded by police cars. They quickly located Logan talking to Detective Matt Sung.

Max strode up to them, Alec flanking her, suddenly appearing apprehensive. "Whacha got?" she demanded.

"Hey Max, Alec," Matt greeted them tiredly. "Not much, I'm afraid. All we've been able to find out about the kidnappers is that they were all male, one was tall and thin, one was pretty big, and the other was right in between. There was another person driving the van, but we can't see the face from the video. There are no plates to trace, and we lost track of the van after one sector. Nobody saw anything; there was a big soccer game going on the other side of the playground at the time"

Logan frowned. "I might be able to help with that footage. Maybe polarize the image, see if we can catch any reflections of their faces, other features."

"Thanks, Logan. I'll have the tapes sent to you as soon as possible." Matt reached into the pocket of his overcoat. "We did find this at the site of one of the kidnappings, though" he said, holding out a small plastic evidence bag to Logan, who was able to catch a glimpse of the silver object before Alec slipped it from his fingers.

"It's Sarah's," the transgenic said quietly, turning the locket over in his hands, the broken chain visible through the clear plastic.

Matt looked at Alec with surprise etched onto his face. "Yeah. Apparently it belongs to Sarah Berrisford, the youngest victim. How did you know?"

"That's not relevant to this case," Alec said, his lips set in a grim line. He'd already told Max and Logan was smart enough to figure it out eventually, but he wasn't going to spill the beans to the police.

The detective glared at him. "The hell it's not. Anything could be important."

Alec paused, eyes locking with Sung's. "Fine then. I know her family. Happy?" he grimaced.

Matt looked skeptical at this brief answer but he wasn't going to pursue this angle right now. "Sure." Turning his attention back to the whole group, he explained, "We don't really know what they want them for. There haven't been any phone calls to the families for ransom or any letters, either."

Max's eyebrows formed a "V". "Ransom? Are they all that rich?"

Nodding, Matt said, "The kids are four of the wealthiest students enrolled at the school." He sighed. "Poor kids. It's not their faults that their parents are well-off. This is going to make a big stink. I hate kidnapping cases. They end up ugly way too often."

"Yeah," Alec said, his voice strangely tight. "They're bitches, all right."

Max gripped his bicep. "There might be contact later. They might call to tell us what they want with the kids," she said softly. "We'll find them."

Alec didn't answer. Logan and Matt watched the pair. Logan was digging in his brain for exactly _why_ the name "Berrisford" had sounded so familiar and why the two transgenics were acting strangely. Matt frowned as he put the gears in his brain in motion as well. There was something going on here, and he intended to get all the dirty details on this case.

AN: Hey all! Don't forget to push that little blue button right under this message and leave me a review!


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Sooooooo sorry for the long wait. Busy, busy, busy. At least it wasn't, like, a month, right? Not that all that many people are reading this story.

**Chapter 7**

Sarah heaved a big sigh. God, she was bored. She'd never been so bored in her life. Part of the reason for her state of extreme boredom was that she was sitting in the dark. It was wet all over and it smelled moldy. Yuck. She groaned and let her head fall back on the damp brick wall behind her. Ouch. Bad idea. That was where those bozos had clocked her one to knock her out when the icky-smelling stuff they'd shoved in her face didn't make her lose consciousness like she guessed it did the others. She'd fought back, and now she was missing her mother's necklace. She remembered the pressure on her neck and the sound of it hitting the ground when the chain broke after one of the goons had grabbed at it, so she guessed none of them had it. Which was great. Now, it was just lost. Sarah blew a raspberry at the dark, drippy room. Hey, anything to keep her occupied, right?

"Would you stop that?" the boy, Jake, whined. "It's annoying."

Sarah crossed her arms and shot a death glare in the direction the voice was coming from, even though he couldn't see her expression. "Well, I'm bored and it's past lunch. I bet it's almost dinnertime. I'm hungry," she pouted.

One of the other girls, Lindsey, Sarah thought, sighed too, before speaking. "I'm hungry, too. I threw up all my breakfast after they put that stuff over my face to make me faint."

"Oh, we know," Sarah said acerbically. Lindsey had ralphed right after regaining consciousness, thankfully not on anyone, but the smell still lingered in the small _dark_ room.

"Be quiet, all of you, or else they'll come in again and make us," Brittany, the oldest of the bunch, said, hushing them. She was a sixth grader, and put on all the airs bestowed upon her by her rank. In other words, she was bossy. "Now, if we just wait, the police will find us or our parents will pay the ransom and they'll let us go. Until then sit still and don't talk."

"But I'm boooored," Sarah whined. She knew she was being a brat, but she didn't care. She wanted to go home to her grandpa and call her dad. Maybe he'd come see her when he heard that she'd been kidnapped…or maybe he'd even come find her. That would be awesome. She missed her dad. He never minded when she called him, even though sometimes he was obviously in the middle of something. He'd ask her questions about how she was, what she'd been up to, things like that. They'd just talk. Sarah sighed again and sniffed.

"Jeez, are you crying? You're such a crybaby," came from Jake's corner.

"Am not," she wailed, tears leaking out of eyes squeezed shut.

Brittany huffed and scooted over to where Sarah was sitting, narrowly missing the pool of vomit next to Lindsey. She knelt and put her arms around her. "She's only eight, Jake, and she's scared. And besides, I noticed a few sniffles coming from your direction earlier," Brittany shot out, brown eyes blazing in the dark. "Don't cry, Sarah. They'll find us and we'll all get out of here. Know what? I bet my Uncle Logan's out there helping the police look for us. He works with Eyes Only and he's saved a whole bunch of people."

"Yeah," said Lindsey. "I bet my parents hired, like, all the private detectives in the city. They'll find us, Sarah. They have to."

Sarah lifted her head and nodded in the darkness. "Yeah. I bet my dad's out there looking, too. He's like Superman because he's—" She stopped. She'd almost blabbed out The Secret.

"He's what?" Jake asked crossly.

"Nothing," Sarah said. She'd promised her dad and grandpa not to tell anyone about where her dad came from because if she did, bad people might come and take her away. Sarah huffed. "_You mean like now?"_ she thought sulkily.

"Well, my parents probably aren't looking so hard for me. They don't notice me when I am there so they probably won't even notice I'm gone." Jake's voice sounded a little choked up when he spoke. He wasn't crying, though. At least not in front of a bunch of _girls_.

"I'm sure that's not true, Jake," Brittany said, trying her best to reassure him. She could help thinking, though, that from what she'd heard of them, Mr. and Mrs. Wright were unlikely to care very much about their son's well-being. She sighed. This sucked beyond awful. Here she was, in a dark smelly room god knows where, stuck babysitting a bunch of mopey kids only a little younger than herself. Brit gave a wholehearted groan, banging her head back on the wall, just as Sarah had earlier. Great.

* * *

AN: Kinda short? Sorry. Well, give me some feedback, please.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: I guess it's fairly obvious that updates are going to be much less frequent from now on than they were over the summer, but I do intend to finish this story.

No Alec, Max, or Sarah in this chapter, sorry, but there will be soon.

**Chapter 8**

Outside the Wright residence, Matt Sung let out a groan of frustration at the same time Brittany did. Going over the school grounds hadn't yielded much besides a few scuffmarks on the blacktop. The teachers on duty had nothing to say as well. They'd all been busy watching the larger crowd of children on the soccer field and had not kept an eye out for the ones who had left the big group for some reason or another. Friends of the victims had offered such helpful tidbits as, "She was getting a snack" and "He went to go wash his hands".

Logan had accompanied Matt to Brittany Morland's house before heading back home to his computer so he could analyze the videos. Logan's cousin Bitsy had not been able to provide them with much information besides the fact that her daughter had seemed absolutely normal when she had dropped her off at school that morning. Brittany's father had had no interest in his daughter since the divorce and Bitsy really did not think that he would have started now. With reassurances of "I'm sure we'll find her", Matt and Logan had backed out and the detective had gone on alone to interview the Harrisons, Lindsey's parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had been frantic. Mr. Harrison had hired the city's top PIs to search for his daughter. In his opinion, the Seattle Police Department was a bunch of incompetent nincompoops. No offence meant. "Oh, none taken," Matt said. As for information, what they told Matt about their daughter could have filled his entire notepad, if he'd bothered to write down what Lindsey had had for breakfast that morning (scrambled eggs, bacon, buttered toast, and orange juice) or what television program she had watched last night on the flat screen tv in her room (a rerun of some pre-Pulse show called "Hannah Montana"). Basically, the only thing of use they were able to provide him with was exactly what she had been wearing that morning (a pink cardigan over a white blouse and a skirt with pink flowers printed all over it). And that was already visible from the hoverdome video.

The Wrights, on the other hand, were pretty much the opposite of the Harrisons. Jacob's father was on a business trip in Korea and wouldn't be able to make it back to Seattle for several weeks. Former Miss Seattle Caroline Wright requested Matt to keep the interview short because she needed to dress for the dinner party she was planning on attending that evening. Apparently, the primary caretaker of the boy was the nanny, a plain-looking brunette in her mid-thirties with an Irish brogue, nose and eyes red from weeping. Jakey was just fine when she had taken him to school that morning. Happy, even. She had no idea why anybody would do this to the little lad. He wasn't perfect, a wee bit mischievous at times, but still a good child. Aye, the evil in the world. She crossed herself as she ushered the detective to the door.

And so, Matt had come to the interview that he was looking forward to the most. Robert Berrisford, Sarah Berrisford's maternal grandfather. Alec had acted strangely earlier that day and it had to do with that girl. Since Alec wouldn't tell him, Matt thought he would tackle her grandfather. Hey, the transgenic had said they were "family friends". Couldn't hurt to dig around a little.

* * *

While Detective Matt Sung was interviewing the families of the four kidnapping victims, Logan was browsing for files with "Berrisford" in them. Immediately, an article with the heading "Rachel Berrisford dies after long illness" 'Funeral will be held for daughter of ex-CEO Robert Berrisford' came up as well as one detailing the accident that caused Rachel Berrisford's fatal illness: "1 Dead, 2 Injured in Car Bomb Explosion".

Logan remembered now. About seven years ago, he and Max had thought that Alec had gone back to Berrisford's house to kill him to finish a job and put himself out of danger, but they had been proved wrong. The male X5 had gone there to find out what had happened to the girl he had fallen in love with during his assignment…two years before.

He hurriedly pulled up the birth records for Sarah Berrisford. Sarah Lynne Berrisford had been born on March 1, 2019 via caesarean section; weight a paltry 3 lbs 6 oz, the result of being 7 ½ weeks premature due to medical complications; mother Rachel Berrisford; father unknown. It was February 2028 now, so…

Logan did the math and gaped in astonishment at the computer screen. Oh. Wow. No wonder Alec was acting more anxious than he would have been for a usual kidnapping. Sarah Berrisford was his kid.

He frowned. And Max knew about her, too, obviously, from the way she had tried to reassure Alec. Logan wondered when he had told her. The two transgenics had become much closer since the declaration of transgenic freedom, but although Logan and Max had never gotten back together, and Logan knew that Alec cared deeply for her and she for him, they had never attempted a romantic relationship…at least as far as he knew. Not that Logan would care if they did. Really.

Over the years, Alec had proven himself as a strong leader while negotiating for peace but a proficient commander and tactician when it came down to the inevitable battle. He had also proven himself as a good friend to Max, Joshua, and countless transgenics, but also "ordinaries" such as Sketchy, Original Cindy, and Logan himself. He had come a long way from the irresponsible happy-go-lucky smart-aleck who seemingly cared only for himself.

Logan made up his mind right then to find Sarah Berrisford—alive—no matter what it took. Sure, he had to find his niece Brittany and the other children as well, but Alec had never asked him for anything for himself. It was always for TC. Well, this was Logan's chance to try to pay his debt for that one major personal favor Alec had done for him—procuring the cure for Max's virus. They could now interact without the fear of Logan keeling over dead, which was a great relief for everyone who knew about it.

With that, the cyber-journalist-do-gooder set his shoulders straight and began pausing and playing and zooming up on the grainy images from the videos he'd gotten from the police to try to find something useful.

* * *

AN: Not exactly M/A right now, just definitely not a M/L fiction.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Just Matt Sung and Berrisford in this chap, with a little bit of Logan. But you won't mind, right, because from what I can tell, you all like Matt?

**Chapter 9**

The detective pushed the buzzer next to the gate of the Berrisford mansion. "Detective Matt Sung of the Seattle PD," he said, holding up his badge up to the camera. The gate clicked open.

The front door was open by the time he got there. "Detective Sung?" the burly security guard holding it open said. Matt nodded and walked in.

He was shown into a tastefully yet simply decorated study. At the desk in the center of the room was an elderly man with a clean-cut face and a careworn expression but shrewd eyes. He stood as Matt and the guard walked in. "Thank you Michael." The security guard left the room, closing the door behind him.

Robert Berrisford strode forward, holding out his hand. "Detective Sung? Robert Berrisford. I presume you're here to investigate the kidnapping of my granddaughter?" He had a friendly voice, but right now, it was as tired as his face.

Matt shook the former CEO's hand. "Yes. I have some routine questions that may help us finding who is responsible for it and where she is being held."

Berrisford nodded. "I'll answer any questions that will help with your investigation." He gestured to the sturdy oak chair placed in front of the desk, sitting down in his own seat. "Would you like anything to drink? Coffee?"

Matt shook his head as he sat. "No thank you. I'm sorry for calling so late in the evening, but I figured that you wouldn't mind if it led to finding Sarah."

"No, I don't mind. An old man doesn't need much sleep at night." He smiled wryly, faltering slightly as his eyes caught the framed photograph on his desk next to his computer.

Matt looked over at the picture as well. It was of a laughing young girl with a halo of long dark curls surrounding a dainty fine-boned face. Sarah Berrisford. "She's a beautiful child, isn't she, detective?" Berrisford asked softly.

The bright green eyes with hazel flecks gazed up at him mockingly as Matt studied the girl's features. She seemed familiar, somehow. He just couldn't place where he'd seen that particular expression before. "Yes, she is." She really was. He cleared his throat. "I just need to know if you noticed anything unusual about her before today. Like the way she was acting or something she said. Anything could help."

Berrisford frowned in thought. "No, I didn't. I've been thinking all day about it and I can honestly say that she was acting perfectly normal, the same as usual. I really can't think of any enemies who would want to hurt us either."

Matt studied his notes. "But what about back in 2018? There was a car bomb?" He looked up at the old man to gauge his reaction.

A flicker of anger and pain and something else ran across Berrisford's face before his eyes became shuttered again. "That was ten years ago, before I retired. Then, there were many people who might have wished me harm, but now, now I can't think of anyone who would still hold a grudge from business conducted a decade ago," he said brusquely.

"Did you ever find out who was responsible?" Matt pressed.

"Yes, but I assure you that who they were has nothing to do with my granddaughter's kidnapping. That…corporation has dissolved since the attack." Berrisford's mouth pressed into a thin line. Apparently, discussion on that topic was closed.

The detective pursed his own lips and tapped his notebook with his pencil. "I see. Well, thank you for your time. I've got what I need for now," he said, rising. "Good night."

Robert Berrisford stood as well to show his guest out. "Thank you detective. Good night."

Matt turned at the front door, however, to pull a Columbo. "One more thing. How do you know Alec McDowell?" he inquired, taking in the sudden stiffening of the other man's frame.

Berrisford blinked once before answering. "We met several years ago. He's an acquaintance of mine. Why do you want to know?" he asked, looking straight into Matt's eyes, his sharp grey ones penetrating the Asian man's brown.

Not showing his impatience at the evasive answer, Matt continued, "He's one of the transgenics helping the department with the investigation. He seemed to know your granddaughter."

"He met her once," Berrisford said after a lengthy pause. Hmm. That did sound like the truth, but...

"How did you and Mr. McDowell meet? What were the circumstances?" Matt probed.

The old man rubbed a hand across his jaw in a weary gesture. "Business. Really, why do you want to know? This has nothing to do with my granddaughter's kidnapping."

"Just covering all the bases, Mr. Berrisford," Matt replied. "Thank you again, sir. Have a good evening."

"And you, detective," Berrisford answered back, seemingly glad to be rid of him.

Outside the house, Matt sat in his car and mused over what had been said and wondered what had not. He pulled out his phone. "Logan. It's Matt Sung. Do you have anything yet?"

There was a shuffling sound before Logan's voice came on the line. _"Hey, Matt. No, I don't have anything from the videos right now. The first two didn't have any reflective surfaces where I could get a face to ID the guys, and I'm working on the third right now. Did you find anything?"_

"Nothing much. Just the usual 'There was nothing out of the ordinary about my kid' line. Hey, I just came from Sarah Berrisford's house. What do you know about Robert Berrisford and Alec?" If anyone knew, it was Max, since she was closer to the male X5, but Logan wasn't as intimidating as Max Guevera could be at times.

There was a long pause as Logan seemed to be trying to think of how to reply. Static crackled in the silence. _"That's not for me to say. I'm sorry, I really can't tell you."_ He sounded apologetic.

"You mean you can't, or you won't?" Matt asked irritably. He'd had a long day today and another one lined up tomorrow and the next day all the way until he cracked this case. Plus, a headache was building up against his eyeballs. He rubbed his face with his free hand.

A sigh came back over the line. _"Both, I guess. It's Alec's choice to tell you, but knowing him, he won't. Do me a favor and don't look into this any further, okay? Like he said, it's probably not relevant to the case."_

That was the third time he'd heard it today. Hitting the steering wheel absentmindedly while he turned the request over in his mind, Matt acquiesced wearily with a sigh. "All right. I'm gonna trust your judgment on this. But I'll agree only on the condition that you tell me the moment it does become relevant, okay, Logan?"

"_That's fine."_

After they ended the conversation, Matt really hoped that he wouldn't regret his decision. Because there was something fishy going on with the transgenic. Or maybe he should say catty, considering his feline DNA. Or not. Man, he needed some dinner and a good night's rest. Dinner he could have, but sleep, on the other hand…well, a cup of coffee or five would have to do.

AN: Lame? Please leave me a review!


	10. Chapter 10

AN: The long-awaited Alec chapter. Much thanks to the X5-494 Genetically Empowered website for the map I used to think out the location details for this story.

**Chapter 10**

The next morning brought four calls from the families of the missing children. They had all received anonymous letters from the kidnappers saying they wanted 50 thousand dollars cash. Per child. Detailed instructions for payment were laid out in precise commands along with an ambiguous threat that something ominous would happen if the kidnappers didn't get their money by two o'clock that day.

Laboratory analyses of the letters brought forth little information. The identical letters and the addressed envelopes that they came in were printed from the same printer. There was the same slight flaw four inches from the edge on each where the ink was to be smeared—some kind of defect in the machine.

The families were advised not to pay the ransom but to let the police handle the matter, but Lindsey Harrison's parents had gone to the bank as soon as they received the letter in the morning mail and were insisting that they would pay it, lest something more terrible should happen to their little darling. Mrs. Morland hysterically insisted over the phone that they had to do _something_, and Mr. Berrisford had gruffly hinted that if the police were not going to do anything about this business, he was going to turn to private means like the Harrisons had. There were no extra calls from Jake Wright's residence besides the one that informed them of the letter. Mrs. Wright was apparently nursing a hangover.

Logan had stayed up practically the whole night trying to find something to help with the search for the kids. Max and Alec had each called several times (an hour) to check up on his progress. He had said nothing to let either of them know that he knew about Sarah's parentage, knowing that despite Alec's outgoing and flamboyant outward personality, he preferred to keep personal things private. All Logan had to give them and the police was the fact that the black truck the kidnappers drove away in was most likely in Sector 4 right now. He didn't know for sure, since there were many black trucks in Seattle, but he was pretty sure of it.

After hearing this piece of news, Alec had taken off for that sector like a madman with Max only a step behind him. As the two motorcycles blurred down the road, Max contemplated what had happened over the past two days. The startling revelation that her deceptively carefree friend had fathered a child who had then been kidnapped had shocked her considerably.

Now, however, she only hoped that they would be able to find her, and soon; Alec had lost so much already and she didn't know if he could handle having his heart broken again. And there was no doubt that it would be if…no, Max wouldn't think it. She couldn't. If she did, the possibility that it might come true would become real. Best to run away from that thought.

From what she'd seen in the photographs of the girl that had been airing on the news on all channels, Sarah's appearance was a lot like how Rachel must have looked like at her age. Except for the eyes. Hazel-green and exceptionally expressive, those were all Alec's. Any doubt Max might have carried concerning Sarah's "pedigree" was set to rest when she saw those eyes. She'd never seen eyes quite like that on anyone besides Alec. Not even on Ben. His were…different. Both Alec's and Sarah's were livelier and less solemn. Not crazed as Ben's had been.

But now, shooting a glance at her companion's tight-lipped visage as he revved his motorcycle racing the streets like death on wheels, Max saw the same look of desperation that had fueled her brother in his crusade for his Lady and had consequently led to his death. No, Max would not let that happen to Alec. She couldn't let him break like that. Terminal City and the transgenics needed him. Joshua needed him…she needed him.

With that thought, Max turned her mind to the task at hand; searching for black vans of the same model as the one that the four kids were bundled into. Except there were a lot of those, especially in this sector, the longtime territory of the Steelheads. Max hoped Alec wasn't going to try to pick a fight to let out his pent-up frustration.

She sighed. "Alec, there are dozens of black vans here," she called out. "How do we know which one is the right one? Alec?"

Alec slowed his bike and cruised to a stop, taking his sunglasses off in a sweeping motion and keeping his head bowed. Max followed suit, positioning her bike next to his. When he looked up, his expression was pained, and there it was—that same desperation in his eyes and leaking out in his voice when he spoke. "I don't. I don't know. I just…" His voice cracked. Alec slammed a fist into the handle of his motorcycle and gave a grimaced swallow before speaking again. "I just need to do something, anything. I can't sit around doing nothing. Not when she could be…" He looked away as his voice broke.

"Hey." Max brought her arm around his shoulders and brought him close to her when he faltered, his back shaking from suppressed anger, grief, and most of all, fear. A hand came up to fist desperately in her sleeve, clenched fingers almost ripping the fabric with their strength. Choking gasps wracked his body and Max held on even tighter. Alec had never truly experienced real fear until that moment he'd heard about the kidnapping on the news. He now knew the paralyzing, debilitating fear of losing someone dearer to him than himself. And she did mean more to him than anything in the world. He'd die for his daugher. Taking deep gulps of air to try to control the tremors, he forced himself to listen to Max's soothing voice.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna find her. Alright? Like you told me before, she's a tough kid, right? We'll get her back. We will find her. She'll be okay." Max held on to Alec firmly as she felt him attempt to compose himself after a minute. She took a breath. "So she's a lot like you, huh? Always getting her little butt in trouble?"

A strangled laugh came from deep in Alec's throat. "Always my ass, Maxie. And now my kid's? Geez, talk about obsessed," he drawled, his effort at joking falling a little flat. He pulled away from Max's embrace, rubbing his hand down his face to erase all traces of his breakdown. He cleared his throat but didn't meet her eyes, embarrassed. "Thanks. I guess I needed that." He twitched a tentative smile at Max. "Better not tell anyone I cried like a little girl."

Max smiled back. "Anytime…Don't worry, I won't tell Mole. On second thoughts, maybe he'd stop calling you 'Princess' if I did, and think of something worse," she said thoughtfully.

"Don't you dare," Alec exclaimed, temporarily snapping out of his melancholy. "That's just mean. That's not very nice, Max."

"'That's not very nice'?" she mimicked. "That the best you can do, Pretty Boy? You're slippin' in your old age." With a smirk, Max got back on her bike. "So you wanna head to Logan's, see what he's got?"

Alec nodded. "Yeah. Okay. You really think he's found anything?"

Max pursed her lips. "There's no harm in hoping he does. We might think of something if we see what happened, too. Something that he might have missed."

"Okay then," Alec agreed. "Let's go bug Wheels."

Max rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses as they pushed off. Her Smart-Aleck was back, at least. She could live with that.

* * *

Boy, was Sarah getting tired of the dark. The company, too. Jake was almost as whiney as she was and Lindsey wasn't so bad at it herself. In fact, she was getting better at it every time she opened her mouth. Brittany had proved herself the queen of groans and sighs. They sure were a miserable bunch.

She was hungry, too. "Dinner" last night had been half of a peanut butter sandwich each with a bottle of water brought in by a tall and really skinny guy. Lunch yesterday had been skipped and so had breakfast this morning, apparently. Sarah wondered if they planned on feeding them lunch today as her stomach gurgled. Probably not. She bet the guy was going by his own eating schedule—he was totally emaciated-looking, like an anorexic skeleton or something. She heaved her 5,482th sigh since she'd woken up in this dungeon. Okay, maybe not a dungeon, but it had to be a leaky basement at least.

Sarah sat up as an idea suddenly shot into her brain and ricocheted around in her head. Oh, yeah, that was a plan. They could get out of here, fast. Like in that one pre-Pulse movie. "The Great Escape." She sat back and thought about it. Yeah, it could work. Better than just sitting on their butts doing nothing but sighing, groaning, and whining. In the dark. There was nothing to do in the room, since there was a wall of boxes on one side of it and nothing else in the room. Sarah and the others had fumbled one of the cardboard boxes open and felt around—books. Ugh. Not Sarah's favorite medium of entertainment. Apparently Brittany liked to read, though. But that was of absolutely no use because of the complete lack of light. Did she forget to mention that? When Sarah got home, she was definitely getting Grandpa to buy her a night-light. She didn't care if they were for babies. Anything but pitch-black darkness was just fine by her. Sarah grinned, a determined look in her eyes. _When_ she got home.

Then she settled back and got to work on thinking out the finer points of her plan. It had to be perfect.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Hey people, I bet you weren't expecting this so soon. I'm almost done with this story so I decided I'd just speed up the posting a little and get it all over with because it seems like the number of people actually reading this story is tapering off a bit. Thanks for sticking with me this far. Enjoy!

**Chapter 11**

Alec and Max arrived at Logan's in record time. Logan had moved out of Joshua's house several years before and had gotten himself an apartment in Sector 5 near where Max used to live with Original Cindy. Although not as large as his penthouse, it was still spacious enough to allow for his extensive computer equipment, and as a plus, it had a nice kitchen.

Logan glanced up as they walked in. "Asking you two to knock would be like teaching an old dog new tricks, I suppose," he mumbled.

Alec made a face as he sat down on the couch. "That's the second time today someone's called me old. I swear it's like a conspiracy or something. I'm 28. That's not old," he pouted and crossed his arms.

"Who called you old?" Logan asked curiously. If 28 was considered old, then he was…well, wouldn't do any good to dwell on that.

"Max," said the younger man, as it that answered everything.

Max rolled her eyes as she plopped down beside him. "Well, you are getting older. That is, unless you've managed to stop time, which it's obvious you haven't."

Alec smirked. "If I'm getting older, then so are you. And it sucks more for you since an older woman taking off her top to distract the security guards during a heist just doesn't have the same effect as a hot _young_ woman doing it, not that it wouldn't distract me if you did even though—ow!"

He ducked and broke off as Max swatted him across the back of his head. "Shut up. I don't wanna know what goes through your dirty little mind, Alec."

Logan wasn't going to get himself involved in _that_. Max and Alec's bickering had not let up in the least in all the years he had known them. They still teased each other relentlessly yet still remained loyal friends to each other. Logan had found it best not to try to understand it. That decision had saved him a lot of headaches and a fortune in aspirin.

He turned back to his computer screen and cleared his throat. "If you're here for more information, there's nothing new I've got to show you yet."

The banter stopped. "Logan," Max started, walking over to the computer, "we were thinking that maybe we can take a look at the tapes, you know, see the whole thing."

Logan leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, sure. I've gone over them so many times, my eyes are glazing over. Maybe you two will catch something I missed." He started the video he'd been working on when the two X5s had come in.

The hoverdome had apparently been flying aimlessly when it had caught the black van driving in from the side of the screen. The camera focused on it and followed it to the fence separating the school playground from the street. The van stopped and three men flocked out. They looked left and right but not up, since they apparently knew the hoverdome might be flying above trying to capture their faces, while one of them cut the chain keeping the gate closed with bolt cutters. After opening the gate, all the while keeping a lookout for passerby, they stood aside to let the van drive through. One of the men pulled out a piece of paper and the three bent their heads over it.

"What's that?" asked Alec from behind Logan, startling him. He hadn't noticed the transgenic rising from the couch and moving to this present position.

Recovering himself, Logan answered. "I zoomed up on it, like this," he said, pausing the video and blowing up the picture of the paper in the man's hand. "Then I made the image a little clearer." It could be seen now that there were four photographs printed out on the paper.

"It's the kids," Max said quietly. "So they were targeting them specifically. We already knew that."

"Yeah." Logan tapped a key and the video continued where it left off.

The men looked towards something out of the range of the hoverdome's camera. A major disadvantage of the hoverdome was that most of the time it only captured the top of peoples' heads and parts of their faces.

The three of them watched as the men scouted the playground for their prey. When they spotted one of their targets, they would walk up to the child as soon as he or she was away form other people and put a white cloth over his or her face in a sudden movement, startling and prompting the child to struggle. The struggle never lasted for long. Within seconds, the child would fall limp and would be carried to the van. Whatever was on the cloth worked quickly to demobilize its victim, with the exception of the third child to be taken.

When one of the men grabbed the girl's arm, she lashed out and clipped him on the chin with her fist. Man number two grabbed her other arm and the third covered her face. She continued to fight back, kicking with her legs and pulling at her arms, for much longer than the time it took for the others to fall unconscious, and even managed to wrench herself free from their grips. Taking staggering steps away from her attackers, she looked back once before the man closest to her hit her in the back of the head with his fist, sending her sprawling on the asphalt. She didn't move.

Dark-haired and slight, the small figure was easily identifiable as Sarah Berrisford. Both Logan and Max glanced surreptitiously at Alec as he watched the footage intently. His face immediately took on a pinched look as he recognized his daughter but turned to puzzlement as he saw how long it took for the chemical, chloroform probably, to take effect. His eyes blazed when the heavy-set man knocked Sarah to the ground, and his jaw clenched.

"Why didn't that stuff work on her? It knocked the other two out pretty fast, didn't it?" Max asked, looking as mystified as Alec had.

Logan made up his mind to reveal what he knew. "It probably has to do with her transgenic DNA. Remember your nephew Case? His mom was able to pass on her enhanced abilities on to him. I bet that's what happened with her," he said matter-of-factly, looking at Alec.

Green eyes met blue as Alec tried to hide how what Logan had said had startled him. "You figured it out, huh?" he said with a wry smile. "You gonna give me a lecture on my woman-lovin' ways and the immorality of having a child out of wedlock?"

Logan raised his eyebrows. "Why would I ever lecture you on anything? You're a grown man. It's your life and you can't change what happened, not that I think you'd want to. _Do_ you regret having a child?" he asked softly.

Alec shook his head and leaned against Logan's desk. "No. No, I don't. Not ever. Sure, my life's gotten a lot more complicated since I found out, but she's my daughter and I love her. I wouldn't give her up for anything. I'm gonna find her and nobody better stand in my way or else they'll regret it." His voice was steady as he said it.

The ringing of Alec's phone startled everyone in the suddenly quiet room. Alec's hand shook slightly as he answered it. "Hello?"

A scared whisper came over the line. _"Dad?"_ The phone slipped slightly from his fingers before he caught it and pressed it hard against his ear.

Catching his breath, he answered. "Sarah? Are you all right?" Alec was vaguely aware of Logan furiously typing on his keyboard, trying to trace the call.

Harsh breathing filled his ear. _"Yeah. I, uh, can't talk for long. We kinda busted out and—"_ Sarah cut off. _"Oh my god, what was that?"_ she whimpered breathlessly.

Alec's heart hammered in his chest at the raw fear in his daughter's voice. "Sarah?" he said urgently into the phone. The seconds stretched into minutes in his mind. "Sarah?" _"Oh no, oh no, oh no," _he thought.

Then she was back. _"Never mind. False alarm. I'm fine."_

Alec glanced at the computer where Logan was still tapping away at a feverish pace. "Do you know where you are?"

"_No, I wasn't awake when we got here."_ Her voice, still hushed, was worried now. _"We're still inside. Sorry. Umm, there're all these bookshelves around, though. I think it's some kind of a bookstore or library."_

"A bookstore or a library?" he repeated for Logan's benefit. "Okay, baby. That's good. That should help us out. Hey, just stay on the line, okay? We're tracing your call, so we'll be able to find you."

"_Okay."_ A beat. _"I'm scared," _Sarah whispered, voice shaking.

Her obvious terror wrenched at Alec's heart. "We're gonna find you, baby, I promise," he said in a gentler tone, attempting to comfort her. "You gotta be brave for me, all right? Can you do that?"

"_Mm-hm. I'll try, Daddy."_ Alec's voice had calmed Sarah down somewhat. He kept his eyes on the computer screen. Almost there. The next thing he heard was a gasp from over the line. _"I have to go."_ Then a click as the call disconnected.

"No, Sarah. Sarah? Answer me." She was gone. Alec stared at his phone, breathing heavily. He'd lost her again. Oh God, what kind of a father was he?

He suddenly realized that Max was shaking his shoulder. "Alec. Alec. Eyes front, 494." Alec's eyes snapped up at her brusque tone. Max was standing in front of him. He blinked. When'd she get there?

She looked worried and apologetic. "Sorry. You kinda zoned out on us there. Logan's got an address."

Alec blinked and twitched up the corners of his lips in an attempt at a smile. "What are we waiting for, then? It's almost one. We gotta get there before two. Let's blaze."


	12. Chapter 12

AN: What's Sarah been doing all this time? And how did she get her hands on a phone? Well, read and find out!

**Chapter 12**

_A little while before…_

"Sarah, is that you? What are you doing?" "Yeah, what are you doing?" "Stop moving around, you're going to step in the throw up."

Sarah brushed her hair out of the way and bent down to feel around in the box again. She wanted a nice, heavy book. A-ha! Perfect. "Just sit still and wait. I've got a plan. You'll see." She made her way to the door and sat down against the wall. All she had to do now was wait for lunch.

Footsteps could be heard clomping just outside the door. The sound of keys clanging against the door as it was unlocked. 3, 2, 1—

The door opened to reveal the silhouette of the tall skinny man. Sarah threw the hardcover book at him as hard as she could, catching him in the forehead.

"Oww! What the--?" While the man grabbed his head in pain, dropping the tray of sandwiches in the process, Sarah launched herself at him, knocking him over. Kneeling on his chest, she slammed her fist in his face, once, twice, before he recovered and shoved her off.

"Why you little…" He reached out and grabbed her, turning her so that his arm was across her neck, blocking her airway. She couldn't breathe. She squirmed around and elbowed him in the place where Michael, one of the security guards back at home, had taught her to hit if a man ever grabbed her like that.

The man grunted and bent over to clutch at his groin. Eyes watering in pain, he still held on to her with one hand. She couldn't pull away, so she opened her mouth and bit his hand with sharp little teeth. It was nasty; all hairy and skinny, who knew where it'd been?

"Oww!" he cried again, but didn't have the chance to say anything else before Sarah hit him over the head with the book, effectively knocking him out.

Breathing hard, Sarah examined her handiwork with satisfaction. Giving him a kick in the ribs for good measure, she said smugly, "Didn't you know? Girls kick butt! Says so on the t-shirt."

Glancing back at the dark room, she saw three dropped jaws and six wide eyes to go with them.

She grinned and gestured for the others to come out. "Hey, guys, come on. Let's go."

Brittany came first, brown eyes worried. "Sarah, are you sure about this?"

Sarah shrugged, and knelt down by the prone body at her feet. "No, but it's the only chance we've got." She pushed aside the book. _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince._ How appropriate.

Lindsey looked apprehensive. "But—"

Sarah looked up and glared at her fellow kidnappees. "Move it! Or stay here if you're chicken, but I'm getting out of here." She continued to rummage in the skinny dude's pockets.

Brittany stepped close to her. "What are you doing?"

"Getting his cell phone," Sarah answered without looking up. "Got it." She stood and led the way up the dark (but lighter than the basement) stairs.

The others scrambled to follow. Jake grumbled behind her, "This was your brilliant plan? Knock the guy out, grab his cell, and run? What if there's more of 'em?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Jake," she muttered out of the side of her mouth.

"That's a bad word. I'm telling on you." Sarah could practically see him pouting from behind her.

She huffed out an exasperated sigh. "Who are you gonna tell? And what part of 'Shut up' didn't you get?" she snapped.

"Well, Jake's got a point," put in Lindsey timidly. She didn't want Sarah biting her head off like she did Jake's. "What are we gonna do now?"

Sarah flattened herself against the wall as she neared the corner. "I'm thinking."

Brittany followed her lead and pressed her body close to the cold brick. "So you don't have a real plan?"

Sarah looked back at the other kids and grinned. "I'm kinda making it up as I go."

Satisfied that the coast was clear, she moved forward out into the room. There were shelves arranged in rows all across the room. Bookshelves, some with the books still lined up on them and others with them piled up all over the floor. It was still pretty dark, but from what Sarah could see, there wasn't anyone there.

To tell the truth, she was a little disappointed. It would have been cool to have another tussle with some bad guys. This experience had been a little boring at first, but this, this was _fun._ Her own bona fide adventure. This was way cooler than school.

"Okay guys. Wait here. I'll go look around, case the place out. I'll be back," she whispered.

Brittany protested, "Sarah, you can't go by yourself. It's too dangerous. They could find you."

"I'll be fine. Just…just stay. Watch the others." Sarah looked around and moved towards the nearest set of shelves.

Brittany caught her hand. "Hey, be careful."

Sarah gave her a smile that she hoped looked brave. "I will."

She walked quietly through the aisles, trying to keep her fear at bay. Fear and excitement. How awesome was this?! She couldn't hear anything, so she pulled out the phone and dialed the number that she knew would get her help the quickest. No, not 9-1-1. Her dad's number.

It started ringing. _C'mon, pick up. Pick up, pick up, pi—_

"_Hello?"_ Oh, thank god. Her father's voice was a wonderful thing to hear on a normal day, but to hear him now was…well, you get the picture. Sarah was positively giddy with relief.

"Dad?" _Please save me. I'm scared._

"_Sarah? Are you all right?"_ He sounded worried. _Well, duh, Sarah. Of course he's worried._

"Yeah. I, uh, can't talk for long. We kinda busted out and—" She heard a noise coming from her right. "Oh my god, what was that?"

Listening more carefully, almost straining her ears to do so, Sarah determined that the noise wasn't anything more than a couple of mice. She hoped. _"Sarah? Sarah?"_ She heard her father's voice calling her name over the phone and turned her attention back.

"Never mind. False alarm. I'm fine." Sarah hoped she sounded as fine as she'd said she was.

"_Do you know where you are?"_ Her dad asked.

That was what she'd been trying to figure out since she'd gotten to this room. "No, I wasn't awake when we got here. We're still inside. Sorry." She looked around at the shelves. "Umm, there're all these bookshelves around, though. I think it's some kind of a bookstore or library."

"_A bookstore or a library? Okay, baby. That's good. That should help us out." _It was silly, but Sarah felt proud of herself when he said that. She was helping them find her._ "Hey, just stay on the line, okay? We're tracing your call, so we'll be able to find you."_

"Okay." Sarah looked around. The silence and the dark combined to make a creepy atmosphere. "I'm scared," she whispered, hating that her voice was shaking. She wanted her dad.

"_We're gonna find you, baby, I promise. You gotta be brave for me, all right? Can you do that?"_ Sarah concentrated on her father's calming voice. She found that her heartbeat was slowing down from its jack-hammering pace of before.

"Mm-hm. I'll try, Daddy." Sarah nodded, even though she knew he couldn't possibly see her. Then she heard the creak of a door opening in the room. She gasped and managed a hurried "I have to go" before ending the conversation.

Sarah quickly erased the last dialed number and closed the phone before hiding it on the shelf next to her so they wouldn't know that she'd called for help and cautiously turned the corner just in time to face—

Uh-oh. The large and extremely ugly man in front of her had a feral grin and a malicious glint in his eyes as he advanced towards her. She backed up a few steps. Okay. This was bad.

Oh no, the others. "Run! Brittany, get them out of here!" Hopefully, they'd get out…even if she didn't.

"Hey there, girlie. Whatcha doin' all the way out here? Thought you could get out without us noticin'?" Sarah felt goosebumps rise on her skin and a shiver made its way down her spine. She gulped. Maybe she could escape by running away. She could run very fast if she really wanted to, and oh boy, did she want to right now.

Backing up a few more steps, she turned around to dash away but was met by a wall of books. Dead end. Oh no, she was trapped, doomed. She was gonna die. Sarah didn't want to die.

Fatso, as she now dubbed him in her mind, let out a gravelly laugh that grated on her nerves. He walked towards her, slowly, relishing her fear. What kind of sick person got their kicks out of scaring children? Oh right, the kind of sick person who would also participate in kidnapping them.

Sarah bared her teeth at the man as he grabbed her shoulder. "Well, you were stupid enough to let me get this far. But then again you aren't very smart, are you? 'Cause you don't seem to know that donuts aren't love. You look like you've eaten Dunkin' Donuts out of business and Krispy Kreme, too," she said in as brave a tone as she could muster.

It struck her a little late that making him mad was not the thing to do as the meaty fist swung at her. The hit connected and she cried out. She tasted copper as her head snapped back. Tears sprung to her eyes at the sudden pain, but she tamped them down. No, she wouldn't cry, not in front of _him._

The man's ugly face leered at her, his bad breath polluting the air around her. "You little shit. That should teach you your manners and to show respect to your betters."

Sarah glared at him. "Oh, I already do. To my _betters,_" she said, smirking and drawing out the last word. Oh yeah, she was definitely her father's daughter. Unfortunately, because her smart-mouthed reply earned her another punch, and this time, she saw black.

AN: Reviews? Pretty please?


	13. Chapter 13

AN: I'm a bit busy right now. This is the last chapter I have completely finished so I _may_ not post in a while. I'll try to get my weekly update in, but the chances of that are pretty slim. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter 13**

Betsy, Logan's reliable old car, had trouble keeping up with Max and Alec's breakneck speed. He caught up at the back entrance of the old Seattle Public Library where the two transgenics had parked their motorcycles.

And there was the black van, that elusive vehicle that had swallowed up the four children. Logan glanced at the back bumper. Still no plates.

The windows of the library were covered so the inside couldn't be seen from the outside. It didn't seem like anyone was there. But appearances could be deceiving.

Alec and Max obviously weren't going to wait for Matt Sung and the rest of the police force to get here. They were moving smoothly and gracefully around the building, scouting the area, their movements perfectly synchronized.

"Psst." Max gestured from around a corner. Alec and Logan hurried over.

She pointed at a window where it could be seen that a corner of the paper pasted over the window had torn, revealing a light coming from within the room. The crack was too small to actually see inside, but that light was enough to tell them that there were people inside.

"Let's go."

-------------------------------------

Owwwww. Her cheek was sore. That was the first thing Sarah noticed. The second was the dark. She was back in the basement again. Bummer. The third thing? Her right wrist was handcuffed to something. She tugged on it and followed the chain to—oh, a pipe, how nice.

"Sarah? You awake? Thank god." Brittany? Why was her head in Brit's lap?

Sarah groaned. "I did all that for nothing? You guys didn't get out?"

"No," Brit sounded a little sheepish. "Two other guys caught us at the door. We saw the other guy, the fat one, carry you in here and cuff you to that pipe."

"Jake thought you were dead. He cried." Lindsey the tattletale. Why did that not surprise anyone?

"I did not!" Jake's voice was a tad indignant.

"Did too."

"Not."

Sarah groaned and clutched at her head with her free hand. "Stop it. You're making my head hurt."

Brittany ran her fingers through Sarah's hair. "You feeling okay otherwise?"

Sarah closed her eyes. "Mmfh."

"What you did Sarah, that was kinda stupid. What were you gonna do if we did leave you here alone when you told us to run?" Brittany scolded gently. Her voice had a calming effect on her and the movement of her fingers was soothing.

"My dad's coming," Sarah slurred sleepily. "He knows where we are. He'll find us." She drifted off again. She was tired.

------------------------------------------------

Once inside, they split up; Max to the left, Logan down the middle, and Alec to the right.

Max walked carefully among the bookshelves. Joshua would love these books. Maybe she'd take some back with her when this was over. Not like anybody would miss them or anything. They needed some children's books, too, to keep the younger kids busy.

She scanned the room, looking for any signs of movement and kept her ears peeled for any sounds. At the end of one series of bookshelves was an opening with a flight of stairs leading down to a door. Hmm.

Max cocked her head. If she was trying to hide a bunch of kids, she'd lock them in there. Carefully moving down the steps, she descended to the lower level. Looking back to make sure she was still alone, she pulled out her lockpick set and started working on the lock.

With a click, the door opened. Max's eyes adjusted to the dim light as she cautiously stepped into the dark room. Three pairs of eyes looked up, both fear and hope shining in them. Wait, three? Oh, there was a fourth figure lying huddled in the lap of one of the girls. That wasn't good.

"Are you all okay? I'm here to help you." She moved towards the two girls in the corner. "What's wrong with her? Did they hurt her?"

The older girl spoke. "We're mostly okay. One of them hit her—"

"I'm fine. I told you, I'm fine." The fourth pair of eyes opened and even in the dark, Max could tell that one of them was swollen. The girl sat up. "Who're you?"

"Like I said, I'm here to help you." Max's eyes caught the glint of metal on the girl's wrist. "Are you Sarah?"

The girl's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How'd you guess?"

Max smirked and pulled out her lockpick again. "Figures you'd be the one in the handcuffs if you're anything like your dad."

Sarah stiffened. "You know my dad?"

It was hard handling the sliver of metal in the dark, especially with the girl squirming in her grip. "Yeah. I'm Max. I'm his friend." The cuffs clicked open.

"His girlfriend?" Max could hear the grin in the girl's voice. She rolled her eyes. Not another one. The kid was practically a miniature feminized Alec-clone. Complete with the sexual innuendos.

"We're not like that," Max answered shortly. "C'mon, let's go."

Once up the stairs, they met with Logan. "Anything?"

"I've got the kids. Have you seen—" Max was cut off by the blonde girl pushing past her to get to Logan.

"Uncle Logan!" Brittany held on to him as if for dear life. "I never, ever want to babysit, ever again. Ever."

Logan chuckled as he ran a hand through his neice's blonde hair. "Is that so? I think we can manage that, Brit. Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Can we go home now?" Her response was almost lost in her uncle's jacket.

A sound in the west wing of the library out Max on the alert. "We've gotta get moving. Logan, take the kids to the car. I'll go find Alec."

Sarah protested. "No, I'm going with you." She looked very stubborn (as stubborn as her dad, at least) and Max had no time to argue. The voices coming from the other end of the building were getting louder.

Max gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine. Keep up and don't make a sound."

The voices were coming from around the corner. _"Where are the kids and what did you do to them?"_ Alec's voice, and he sounded absolutely furious.

"_What makes you think we'd tell you? You're outnumbered four to one. Those kids ain't never seein' their families agin. Least not unless their folks pay up."_ Probably one of the goons who'd done the kidnapping. Max smirked. Pretty dumbass thing to say to a pissed off X5 male.

Max rounded the corner in time to see Alec blur. The four children and Logan crowded at her back to watch as well. Pow-pow-pow! Kick-turn-punch! Pow-pow-pow. It didn't take very long for the four men to be sprawled out on the floor looking to be in very bad shape with a not-even-out-of-breath Alec standing in the middle of them.

"Whoa." "Awesome." "That's crazy cool." "That's my dad."

-----------------------------------------------

It wasn't every day Alec bumped into a group of ugly dunderheads with guns prowling around an abandoned library, but when he did, he liked to make the most of it.

"Dude, what happened to your face? Don't tell me, a little girl beat you up?" At the twitch the very bruised-looking skinny guy gave, Alec huffed out a laugh. "Seriously?"

Skeletor squirmed. "She bit me, too. Now I'm gonna hafta get a rabies shot."

The ugly next to the skinny dude rolled his eyes. "Shut up, moron. The little shit won't be bothering no one for a while."

Alec narrowed his eyes. "Where are the kids and what did you do to them?"

The fat guy next to Ugly smirked. "What makes you think we'd tell you? You're outnumbered four to one. Those kids ain't never seein' their families agin. Least not unless their folks pay up."

Bad choice of words. No one should ever come between an adult male transgenic and his child. Alec growled from deep in his chest and let out a vicious snarl, allowing 494 to emerge from his shell. With a few fluid, well-placed kicks and punches, he had all four men unarmed, bleeding, and unconscious within twenty seconds.

Alec reverted back to his newly discovered "Dad" mode in a flash when he heard the awed voices of several children behind him. He turned around and scanned the group of dirty faces for the one that—oomph!

A blurring cannonball of eight-almost-nine-year-old girl ploughed into him, burying her face in his stomach and throwing her arms around his waist. If it weren't for his transgenic reflexes kicking in, he would have fallen over. Alec automatically hugged Sarah back with as much fervor and relief. If he'd looked up, he would have seen identical looks of mild surprise and curiosity on both Max and Logan's faces, but he didn't. Alec had eyes only for his daughter. "You okay, baby?" he whispered into her hair. Feeling her nod, he knelt down to check for injuries. A bruise on her left cheek and a split lip made him frown as he lightly ran his thumb over them. "What happened to you? Are you hurt anywhere else?"

He was more than a little surprised when Sarah grinned and opened her mouth to chatter, "It's nothing. I'm fine. What happened was I attacked that guy who looks like Jack Skellington and knocked him out and used his phone to call you, but Fatso came and punched me after I hung up. Next thing I knew, I was handcuffed to a pipe which really really sucked, but that lady, she said her name's Max, got us out so I'm alright."

Alec chuckled and pulled his daughter close into a one-armed hug. "_You_ knocked that guy out? That's my girl," he said proudly and kissed her forehead. He glanced over at the quartet of unconscious men that Max and Logan were "taking care of" and his look hardened. "Good thing I knocked Fatso out, then, huh? No one hurts my little girl and gets away with it."

Sarah put her arms around his neck and giggled. "That was awesome! I told the other kids you're like Superman and—"

Alec interrupted her, voice stern and a frown starting on his face. "You told them? Sarah, I thought we agreed not to—"

Sarah shook her head vehemently. "Uh-uh. No, I didn't. I almost did, but I didn't tell them _why_ you're like Superman." She was still grinning cheekily as she continued, her green eyes shining brightly. "Besides, you probably gave it away yourself just now 'cause we saw you fight."

An identical grin appeared on Alec's face. "Brat," he said laughing. Seeing the others were done, he stood up, lifting her up with him and settled her on his hip. "What do you say we get outta here?"

Sarah held on tight but almost nodded her head off when she answered earnestly. "Oh yes, please. I'm starving."

* * *

AN: Yay, finally together again. Did you like this chap?


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Wow, this is turning into an extremely angsty/gushy fic. I'm surprised anyone's still reading it. But for those of you who are, thanks sooo much! And sorry for the long-ish wait. I was busy…? And the site wouldn't let me access my account. Yeah, I know, excuses, excuses.

**Chapter 14**

The sirens wailing out in front alerted those inside that the police had arrived. Satisfied that the bad guys were secure, they went outside to meet up with Matt Sung and let him know that the children had been found and everything was alright.

After seeing that all four kids were present and accounted for, the detective turned to their rescuers. "Thanks for wrapping this case up for us and getting all of them safe."

Logan smiled. "Anytime, Matt. You know that. Gotta repay you for the good work you've been doing for Eyes Only all these years."

"And you know we're always glad to help," Max said, smiling as well.

Alec nodded his agreement. "They say helping people is good for your karma. And you know, we could use some good luck." He hesitated before continuing. "So. They're all okay. Guess that means they're going straight home. We could give a couple of 'em rides if you want," he said, shrugging nonchalantly, letting his gaze stray to the group of kids currently being checked out by the medics on the scene. The look in his eyes, however, contradicted his detached attitude.

Matt paused and followed his line of sight contemplatively before he answered. "The kids need to come down to the station so we can officially take down their statements. Then we'll call the parents to come pick them up." He eyed the younger man thoughtfully, again feeling that niggling sensation that he was missing something.

Alec simply nodded, his disappointment clear in his downcast eyes and not quite contradicted by the smile he forced onto his face. "Alright, then." He glanced back to where Sarah was watching the exchange hopefully from her seat on the trunk of a police car, her medical exam evidently finished. "You mind if…" He jerked his head in her direction.

Matt just barely remembered his promise to Logan not to ask about the connection between Alec and the Berrisfords. He nodded his approval. "Go ahead. I gotta go talk to one of the other officers about transporting the kids and the kidnappers to the station separately anyway," he said turning away as if he wasn't curious at all.

He tried not to watch Alec approach the suddenly happy eight-year-old swinging her legs against the dusty car. Sarah Berrisford definitely knew Alec. She became highly animated as the two of them talked, and Matt wasn't too surprised when the transgenic cupped her cheek in one hand in a gentle gesture. What did surprise him, though, was the way she suddenly grabbed onto him in a desperate movement, obviously sobbing. This prompted Alec to hold the girl close, his cheek on her head, and stroke her hair and back until she quieted. Huh. Interesting development. Matt realized then that he was staring and looked away from the unmistakably intimate moment.

--------------------------------------------

A few feet away, Max and Logan were watching the scene as well. Max huffed and a smile worked its way into the corners of her mouth as she stood with her arms crossed. "Funny how the fact that he could be a good dad doesn't seem so weird now that I'm seein' this."

Logan nodded. "Yeah. He's grown a lot since he first got out, hasn't he? As a person, I mean."

"Oh yeah. Definitely." Max bit her lip and sighed. "He's probably telling her that he won't be able to see her for a while again. The whole mixed transgenic thing wouldn't go down well if the media ever gets a hold of it. You know all those years ago, when you said the price of freedom is never cheap or somethin' like that?" she reminisced softly. "I don't want them to be the ones that have to pay with her growing up without a father. Her mother's already dead. No kid deserves that. Alec deserves to have his own family after all the good he's done. And I just--"

"It'll happen, Max." Logan fixed her with an intense look in his blue eyes and put a steadying arm around her shoulders. "It might take time, but it'll happen someday. After all, the good guys always win at the end of the movie, don't they?" He smiled lightly. "And we're the good guys. So someday."

Max only watched the pair next at the car with a glum look on her face. "I hope so. For their sake."

--------------------------------------------------

Alec had just told Sarah they'd have to part again soon. She'd be taken down to the police station so that they could have her story on file. To say she'd reacted badly would be a bit of an understatement. She had tried to keep the tears at bay, tried hard to keep the floodgates from overflowing, but once the tears spilled over, she'd started sobbing and dove straight into her father's comforting arms. With a few murmured words of comfort, she'd calmed down enough to listen to his strong heartbeat through her own hitched breaths.

She didn't move from her position, though, until she heard a voice nearby address Alec. "Is everything alright? Is she okay?"

Alec's moment of hesitation was enough for Sarah to poke out a tearstained face from his arms and blubber out, "No, I'm not okay. I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat since dinner last night an' it was just a peanut butter san'wich an'…an' I wanna go hooome!" She succumbed to tears again and tuned her face back to Alec's chest.

The police officer who'd asked the question and Alec both looked completely dumbfounded at this reply, but the latter recovered first. Silently thanking the Manticore scientists for his daughter's aptitude for quick improvisation, he looked at the other man and repeated, "She's hungry," his tone implying menacingly, _"so go do something about it."_

The deputy stammered out, "I-I'll see what I can do about that. Umm. Yeah," and scurried off in search for his superior.

Alec stared down at the top of his daughter's tousled brown head. Muffled sniffling sounds could still be heard from where she'd buried her face in his shirt and her hands were still fisted tightly in the fabric of his jacket. He sighed. "Sarah, do we have to talk about this? You know why I can't stick around. It's—"

"—too dangerous," she interrupted, lifting her head up to look at him. "I know, I know. I get it." She frowned and sniffed. "That doesn't mean I have to like it." Her eyes watered again as she pleaded softly, "Can't you just stay with me until Grandpa comes?" Her lip trembled. "Just 'til then? Please?"

Awww. Alec melted. Who wouldn't, if they were confronted with the ultimate lost puppy eyes of doom? Or lost kitty eyes, considering her DNA. He told the military statistician part of his brain warning him about possible threats to just shut the hell up for once, and gave in to his heart which was telling him that he should savor this opportunity to spend time with his daughter. "Sure, baby. Just until then, okay?" And damn, that teary-yet-dazzling smile she gave him then made feel like it was well worth the risk.

---------------------------------------------

AN: A bit short and sappy. Sorry. The story's almost done. Just a couple more chapters, the way I've got it planned out. Let me know what you thought! Reviews = Love, and I love being loved!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"…and then I woke up and I was in the dark place again. Only this time my hand was handcuffed to a pipe and my head hurt." Sarah stopped to take a breath. And a huge bite out of her ham sandwich, the crumbs dropping onto the paper plate on Matt Sung's office desk.

"Your head hurts? Why didn't you tell me your head hurts?" Alec demanded in a worried tone from his seat beside her.

"'Cuv i' duvn' 'urt 'ow," Sarah said matter-of-factly through her mouthful. ("'Cause it doesn't hurt now.") She swallowed. "Anyway, Max came and got us out and we met Logan, and Brit, like, totally threw herself at him, and then we saw you kick those guys' a—" She caught Alec's eye and revised what she was going to say. "—butts. And then, well, you know."

Matt tapped his pen thoughtfully on the pad where he'd been taking down Sarah's description of her experience of the last couple of days. "Yeah, I think I do," he said slowly. He hesitated before speaking again. "You know, you are taking this extremely well, Sarah. The other kids' reports were a little bit more…tearful than yours."

Sarah shrugged as she popped the last of her meal in her mouth and brushed her hands off over the plate. "I got my big cry out back at the library. I'm alright now." She smiled prettily at the detective, who noticed she was still sitting as close to Alec as she could. When Matt had ushered them into his office, Sarah had refused to relinquish her limpet-like hold from the X5 until the sandwich had been bought, after which she had let go at Alec's coaxing and attacked the food with a fervor that was really quite astounding to behold in someone so small.

Matt met Sarah's eyes. "You were really brave back there. Your dad should be proud of you." He smiled at both of their shocked faces.

Alec recovered first. "How did you know that I'm her dad?" he asked defensively and not a little suspiciously.

Matt laughed. "Now I know for sure. It takes one to know one. I've got a kid of my own. Besides, she reminded me of someone and I just realized that it was you." He stood up and walked around to their side of the desk. He bent down to her level before speaking again. "You take care now, okay, Sarah? And stay out of trouble." He straightened and shuffled among the papers on his desk. "Oh, and I believe this is yours," he said, handing her a small plastic evidence bag.

Sarah took it and opened it. Her mother's locket. "Thank you, Detective Sung." She beamed a dazzling smile at him and gave him a hug. "I'll try to be good, but I'm beginning to think getting into trouble is genetic," she whispered conspiratorially, shrugging, and making Alec arch an eyebrow.

"And who told you that?" he drawled.

"Max did," Sarah returned sweetly with a saccharine smile.

Alec shook his head with a wry chuckle and ruffled her hair. "You're killing me, you know that?"

Matt opened the door for them while trying unsuccessfully to hide his amusement. "You think she's a handful now, wait 'til she gets older. Then the gray hairs and wrinkles will start appearing." Stepping out and gesturing down the hallway, he continued, "We called Mr. Berrisford to let him know that Sarah's safe. He's on his way. You can wait for him in the room around the corner."

Father and daughter sobered immediately. Thanking the detective and bidding him goodbye, they made their way to the designated room.

----------------------------------------------------

That was where Max found them ten minutes later when she came in looking for Alec. Sarah was curled up in his lap, her face nestled comfortably in his shoulder. She was fast asleep.

Alec glanced up at Max as she sat down in the chair beside him. "She must be tired. She fell asleep as soon as she climbed up here." He smiled gently into his daughter's hair.

Max pursed a smile at them. "She's had a long day. She seems like a good kid. You know, she really is as cute as you told me she is."

Alec nodded. "Yup. She got some good stuff from me, huh, Maxie," he quipped, eyes twinkling at her.

"Yeah," Max agreed, "Too bad she got a full set of those smart-aleck genes, too. She coulda done without them." Her own brown eyes sparkled right back at him.

Alec's eyes widened in mock offence. "I'm hurt, Max. She wouldn't be mine without 'em."

They laughed quietly at the well-used jest so as not to wake the sleeping child in Alec's arms but she stirred anyway. She must have inherited her father's super-hearing as well. "Daddy?" she murmured sleepily into his shirt.

Alec beamed down at her. "Hey there, Sleeping Beauty. Have a nice nap?"

"Mmmh." She turned her head to peer bleary-eyed at him. "Time's-it?"

Alec shifted his arm carefully so he could glance at his watch without dropping his precious lapful. "Almost 4:30. Your grandpa should be here soon."

Sarah's face immediately turned dour. "I don't want to go home, Dad. I wanna stay with you. Please? I'll be good. I won't bother anyone," she begged desperately.

Alec tuned his gaze away before he got hit full blast with the pleading look he knew his daughter was wearing. He couldn't give in this time. "No, baby," he said, shaking his head, "You have to go home with your grandpa." He sighed. "It's not that I don't want you to live with me, I do, really. There's…there is _nothing_ in the world I want more than to be with you, but I need you to stay as far away from this—this war as possible." He swallowed and kept his eyes shut and his will steeled against what he knew was coming. All his senses were attuned to her, the uneven quality of his child's breathing, the light lavender and vanilla scent of her, mixed in with something indescribable that was all Sarah.

Her head was still nestled against his shoulder, and her hair tickled his neck and chin as she moved so she could see him better. "But I'm afraid that I'll never see you again and—and _I'll miss you_." Her last words were whispered, but Alec heard them anyway. He mustered the control to look down into his daughter's limpid green eyes, again shining with tears.

His own were watery, too, as he managed to choke out, "Sarah, if this is what I have to do to keep you safe, then it's what I'm going to do. You can't be involved in this. It's dangerous." He brushed the stray wisps of hair from her face.

Sarah struggled to scramble to a position where she could look Alec straight in the face. "I already am involved," she said firmly. "I was in this from the _minute_ I was born. I'm half-transgenic, so that means I'm a 'freak,' too. I wanna fight. This is going to be like that whole thing, like, seventy years ago, when black people and white people couldn't get married and everybody hated their kids because they were mixed. We learned about it in school. I'm like that kid. Humans wouldn't like me and transgenics wouldn't, either, if they knew. I don't want to be in hiding while you're out there fighting for me." She balled her fists in her father's jacket and glowered obstinately.

Alec tipped his head back and groaned. Why'd she have to be so stubborn? He was tired of this, all of this. All he wanted was to be able to go home peacefully to a loving family at the end of the day; why couldn't he have even that? He fought and fought for his people, for their rights, but they didn't seem to be any closer to their goal than they had been seven years previously. What did he ever do to deserve this? Well, besides killing a few people, but even that was under orders. He heaved a great sigh. Sometimes, it didn't seem as if—

"Dad. Dad! Are you even listening to me?"

The demanding voice and small hand thumping on his chest brought his attention back to the matter at hand. Opening his eyes and bringing his head back up on level with his daughter's, he said with a tired smile, "Yeah, I heard you. Sarah, I'm proud that you think that, but you're only eight. I need to know that you're safe. Let us take care of this, okay? You can join in the fight once you're old enough." He stroked her cheek, marveling at the softness of the skin.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Da-aad," she whined. She noticed her father's friend was still sitting there next to them, observing their interaction with a curious and interested eye. Sarah had already labeled her "cool" in her mind. Turning to her dark-haired rescuer, she added, "Come on, Max, what do _you_ think?"

"Oh no, no, no," Alec cut in, turning Sarah's chin back towards him in one swift motion. "You are not bringing Max into this. This is between you and me, Sarah." He locked gazes with his obstinate daughter.

They remained like that for a while, neither of them breaking eye contact. "I just wanna say, I agree with what your dad's saying, Sarah. Sorry." Max smiled apologetically. "You know it's for your own good."

Sarah deflated and pouted. She knew when she'd lost a fight. "'It's for your own good,'" she mimicked, as she turned her body so that she was leaning back against Alec's chest. She crossed her arms and let her head fall back. "Is everyone against me or something? Knowing him, I'll never be 'old enough,'" she grumbled and arched an eyebrow at her father. "Isn't that right?"

Alec chuckled. "I'm that transparent, am I?" he asked, repositioning her on his lap so that she was closer up against him.

Sarah snuggled deeper into his strong embrace. "No, I just know you that well." She smiled.

"And I just want to protect you," Alec said and kissed her forehead gently. "I wish I could keep you safe forever," he whispered.

Identical green eyes met, and the owner of the younger pair whispered back, "I know, Dad, but you can't."

"_But I still I wish I could,"_ thought Alec before Sarah swallowed and said even softer, "I love you."

And then most quietly of all, heard only by the two sitting in the otherwise empty room (Max had silently slipped out, unnoticed by either of them), "I love you, too, baby."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The sound of footsteps in the hallway outside caused them to stiffen. Both Sarah and Alec unconsciously held their breaths as they waited for the walker to pass the room. But no such luck.

Berrisford entered the waiting room and was met by two pairs of identical green eyes, both suspiciously moist and red-rimmed. "Hey," he greeted quietly.

"Hey." Sarah turned to Alec again, searching his face for a sign.

His arms had tightened upon seeing Berrisford, but loosened as he smiled sadly at his daughter. "Go on. You're tired and you need a bath. Badly," he tried to joke.

Sarah didn't move. Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Alec wiped them off. "Don't cry, sweetheart." _Anything but that._ "Don't cry. It's okay," he whispered, his head close to hers.

She nodded and slowly moved out of his lap. Alec remained seated so that his and Sarah's heads were still at the same level. She stood facing him, but glanced back at her grandfather. He gave a slight smile and nod to indicate that they could have a little bit more time.

Sarah reached in her pocket and pulled out something that crinkled at the movement. "Here," she said, holding her hand over her father's. "You keep it."

Alec questioningly took the proffered item. Rachel's locket, still in its sealed plastic baggie. He looked back into his daughter's eyes. "Sarah, I can't…"

"Yes, you can." She smiled, the tears threatening to fall again. Sarah sniffed. "You can give it back to me next time," she said firmly.

Alec took a tired breath. "Sarah…"

"No," she broke in. "No. Next time."

Alec looked into his daughter's eyes, really looked. She was desperately clinging onto what hope she had. He couldn't refuse her this, he couldn't watch her break. "Okay, honey. Okay." He brought her close again for a last embrace before he had to let her go.

When at last they did separate, Sarah with her eyes still squeezed shut and biting her lip as if in denial, and Alec with his hands shaking a little, Berrisford broke the silence that had fallen in the small room. "Sarah. We have to go now." His voice was rough and trembling a little, revealing that this was just as emotionally charged and difficult for him as it was for Alec and Sarah.

Sarah nodded and swallowed. "Okay. I'm ready." She turned to her grandfather and hugged him. "Grandpa."

He hugged her back. "Are you alright, Sarah?" he asked. He could see without asking that his young granddaughter had grown up immensely since he had last seen her just the morning of the day before.

She pulled away and nodded, glancing into his face with newly old eyes, strange on such a young face. Berrisford's own teared up at the sight and his heart gave a tug. "Yeah. I'm okay, Grandpa." She turned to her father again, who was now standing. "Bye Dad," she said softly.

"Bye," Alec returned, his eyes burning. There was something constricting inside his chest, twisting and tearing. If he didn't have transgenic health, he would have thought he was having a heart attack. This had to be the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, letting her go again.

Berrisford took in the young man before him. He bore the haggard look of someone with a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. There was a slight change from the man he'd met three weeks ago, and a comparison with the piano teacher Simon Lehane brought even more differences to his mind. Alec McDowell was a man now, and he was tired, but he still had fight left in him, the urgent need to do the right thing. He was someone Robert Berrisford could respect, something he had thought impossible in the years after the car bomb and Rachel.

Ten years ago, he had seen the innocent attraction begin to blossom into something more and had tried to nip it in the bud by sending his young daughter away, but apparently, he had been too slow—_they_ got to his family first. He had found out enough about the real purposes behind Manticore to hide the pregnancy (he had been too slow to prevent that as well) and subsequent birth. Adoption papers had been carefully forged to keep curious snoopers at bay and to ensure the safety of the child. Her father had been instrumental in the death of her mother, but the dark-haired wide-eyed child was innocent in all that, and as time passed, she grew on him. There was so much of her mother in her that Berrisford sometimes felt that his daughter had never truly left him. There were other times, however, when the drive to find her killer and avenge her overwhelmed him. Then he found him. And he couldn't do it; he couldn't bring himself to become a monster like him.

Soon afterward, the transgenics declared their independence and right there on the television screen was the man known as Simon Lehane, and everything began to fall into place. He'd heard stories, rumors of the genetically engineered soldiers trained to kill, and realized he had brought it upon himself when he'd begun digging into Manticore. But to forgive the instrument of Rachel's death was unthinkable, although looking back, the boy had cared for her deeply. It wasn't until Sarah had gone behind his back to meet her father and begun chattering about her "Dad" all hours of the day that Berrisford realized that perhaps he had been too harsh on the young man. According to the media, he had been influential in keeping the peace between his people and the government—Berrisford could respect that, and he could also respect the obvious love Simon, now dubbed "Alec," had for his daughter.

"Alec," he said, "Thank you for finding her. I know…I know it's hard, parting from her like this, but…" He didn't have the words to finish, but Alec understood.

"I know," he nodded sadly. "It has to be done." They would each do their own part in protecting the only family they had.

Berrisford steered Sarah out the door with a hand on her shoulder, making sure she didn't bump into anything, as her gaze was concentrated solely on her father. She sighed when they turned the corner and she could no longer see the lonely figure in the empty room. "Do you think he's gonna be okay?" she asked her grandfather softly.

Berrisford was surprised at his granddaughter's insightfulness, but he shouldn't have been. In spite of her youth, she had always seen and understood things at a level well beyond her age. He sighed as well. "I sure hope so. He's a good man. This will all be over soon. We just have to pray for it."

Sarah tipped her head back to look at him. "He needs someone to keep him safe. Mom'll look after him, right?"

Berrisford smiled at her innocence. "Yes, I'm sure she will."

--------------------------------------------------------

Alec watched the second love of his life disappear from the doorway and slumped down in the chair again. He ran his hands through his hair. He could do this. He was a soldier, dammit. He could detach himself from the situation; he'd been trained from childhood to do that.

But no, he was a father now. He couldn't just reduce his daughter to numbers and figures, statistics. She was a person, all he had left of Rachel, aside from his memories.

And the locket. He opened his hand. The plastic rustled when he picked it up and peeled the zipper open. The silver chain clinked against the cold metal of the heart-shaped pendant as he slid it out into his hand. He could still remember how it looked against Rachel's fair skin, nestled at the base of her neck.

"_I like you. I like you a lot." _The metal had felt warm from her body heat when his hand had brushed up against it as he kissed her. She'd tasted of vanilla, like the lip gloss she'd been wearing that day. And he'd felt…loved for the first time in his bleak life. It was an innocent, yet forbidden love, and he'd known he shouldn't have given in to it. But it had felt so _right_, and he craved it once he'd gotten a taste of what having someone care could be like.

Alec frowned. The chain was still broken. He fingered the ends absent-mindedly, remembering his daughter's words. _"You keep it. You can give it back to me next time."_

His heart caught in his throat as he stood and rushed out of the room and through the ridiculously long hallways, towards the front entrance of the station. He barely registered it when Max came up beside him, questioning him. He searched the crowded room for the small, dark-haired form of his daughter.

There! By the door. Berrisford pulled the heavy metal door open and a barrage of flashing lights lit up the room. The news crews were here. The kidnapping and rescuing of four wealthy children was a high-profile story.

Sarah tuned her face away from the door, squinting at the brightness, and in doing so caught Alec's eye. Time seemed to slow for the two of them. She smiled and brought up her free hand to wave at him. He returned the smile and brought his own hand up.

Then the moment was over. Berrisford and his security guards, who seemed to materialize from out of nowhere, whisked Sarah into the crowd and towards the large black car waiting in the street.

Alec didn't know how long he stood there watching the door his daughter had passed through; minutes, seconds, he honestly didn't know, but gradually, he became aware of Max's presence beside him.

She stepped closer to him, brushing her shoulder against his. "You gonna be all right, Alec?" He leaned into the comfort she radiated.

There was a long pause before Alec replied. Max had even started to think that he hadn't heard her. "Sure, Max. I'll be alright," he breathed. "I'm always alright. Thought you knew that by now." Turning to her with a shadow of his old smirk, he said, "Wanna race back to TC?"

* * *

AN: The end. Ha, just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you. There's an epilogue for the next chapter. Totally a happy ending. I'm serious. It's so syrupy it's Disney-esque.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Thanks for reading (and reviewing) my story, people. That means you, 452Max, FirstBorn, SinisterShadows, bloomsky, Laney Tate, SnapeGIRL1234, X-5 450, supernaturalsdarkangel108, and anyone else I missed.

All right! Last chapter! This one is extra long (double the usual), so enjoy!

**Chapter 17**

**Epilogue**

It wasn't fair. Sarah stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror but looked away when she saw her lower lip quivering and her eyes fill with tears. No, she wouldn't cry. Her eyes were a little shiny. That was bad. Grandpa might notice when she came downstairs for her "party".

Today was her birthday, which meant that she could have whatever she wanted, right? But no, she was nine now; she would act more grown up about this. She wouldn't make a fuss about her dad not being able to be at dinner. She wouldn't.

Alec had called earlier to wish her a happy birthday. They'd talked for a while and Sarah had done her best not to beg him to come. Begging would have been childish when she knew how much it hurt her father to deny them both of the other's company. So she made no mention of her secret desire that he would be at her birthday dinner that night. It turned out to be the big white elephant in their phone conversation. She knew what her wish would be when she blew out those candles on the cake. Transgenic equality. She snorted. Might as well ask for world peace while she was at it.

Sarah splashed water on her face and patted it dry with a towel. She examined herself in the mirror again. Under close scrutiny, there were minute traces of the tears she had almost shed earlier, but her grandfather didn't have the best eyesight in the world; she'd pass.

She glanced at the clock beside her bed as she stepped out of the bathroom connected to her room. 7:33. Oh no, she was late for dinner! Sarah rushed out of her room and slid down the banisters of the grand staircase. Hurrying to the dining room, she skidded to a stop right outside the door. Composing herself and smoothing down her dress and hair to a more lady-like state, she opened the door.

"Grandpa?" she said as she entered. "Sorry I'm late for…" she trailed off as she caught sight of the teddy bear sitting at her place at the table. What really drew her attention, though, was the chain barely visible in the fur fastened around its neck with _the_ locket on it. It flashed luminously in the dim lights of the dining room.

Sarah caught her breath as she realized that the table was set for _three,_ not two. Was it possible…?

With a wide grin, she turned and launched herself at the taller of the two figures standing by the windows at the far corner of the room. "Daddy!" she cried.

Alec caught the living projectile and held her safely in his arms. "Hey baby," he murmured, breathing in her scent. "Didja miss me?"

Sarah laid her head on her shoulder, her face fitting in the crook of his neck. "Yeah, I missed you," she sighed, perfectly happy. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming when you called earlier?"

It was her grandfather who answered, however. "I thought you liked surprises, Sarah," he said, laughing softly at the touching display of paternal-filial love. "Happy ninth birthday."

--------------------------------------------

"Best birthday present ever," Sarah gushed a few minutes later at the dinner table. She was still grinning like an idiot. Alec wasn't much better off, as he still bore the happy smile and twinkle in his eyes that had yet to dissipate. It made him look young again, Robert Berrisford thought, perhaps even younger than he had been when he had first entered this house. But happier, much happier than he had been then.

"Well, then I guess you don't want to know about your other present, since you like this one so much," Berrisford teased.

Sarah's green eyes lit up even more. "What is it, what is it, what is it? Tell me, please?" she asked, bouncing in her chair.

Berrisford took a sip of wine, deliberately taking his time. "Oh, it's not much." He put the glass down. "I just had the piano upstairs tuned this afternoon while you were at school. I know you've always wanted to play it." He glanced sideways from under half-closed eyelids to see what his granddaughter thought of it.

Her mouth formed an "O" and her eyes were as big as saucers. She leapt from her chair and ran around the table to hug her grandfather. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," she chanted.

Berrisford laughed. He cupped Sarah's cheek in his hand and brought his face close to hers. "And you know what the best part is? I contacted one of your mother's old piano teachers and he said he'd be willing to give you lessons. She always said he was her favorite instructor, although I think she might have been a little bit biased. She had a crush on him, you see?" His eyes twinkled at Alec, who had the grace to blush a little.

Sarah's eyes widened even further in excitement. "No way. You mean…" She looked at her father.

Alec confirmed. "Yeah. Your Grandpa's letting me come over once a week to teach you the marvelous art of piano."

Sarah rushed over to him and scrambled into his lap. "This is way awesome." She put her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"Well, you know, I can be a pretty strict teacher. You've got to practice every day, got that?" Alec said sternly, but gently. He stroked her hair out of her face. Her cheeks were pink from excitement and the locket was now around her neck where it belonged.

"Uh-huh. Okay. I can do that." Sarah bit her lip then burst out eagerly, "Can we go right now? Can you teach me? Please? Like _now_ now?"

Sarah never understood why the grownups erupted in laughter. She was serious.

"No, honey, after dinner," her grandfather wheezed. "Finish eating first, then you can go upstairs."

-------------------------------------

Robert Berrisford stood at the dining room window listening to the two upstairs laugh and tease (and tickle) their way through their first piano lesson. He hoped he'd made the right choice in allowing it to happen.

A crash of discordant notes interrupted "Hot Cross Buns" and a giggle ending in a high-pitched screech brought a smile to his lips. This house hadn't felt so alive since…well, since his darling wife had passed when Rachel herself was not much older than Sarah was now.

He took a sip of his gin and was about to take another when he heard a sound outside. _Probably nothing,_ he told himself, but it never hurt to check and make sure.

Berrisford stepped nearer to the window than he had been standing before and pulled the edge of the curtain back to look outside. He squinted in the dark, scanning the pathway leading to the house and the darker shadows of the trees planted against the side of the house. He almost missed the figure crouched in the tree, looking in at the room where his granddaughter and her father were.

Narrowing his eyes, he went to the table where he had hidden a gun in the drawer. He put his glass down, took the firearm out and returned to the window, silently releasing the catch and sliding it open.

The figure watching the oblivious duo startled and looked down at him. For a split second, they were both still. Then she, for the intruder was unmistakably a female, sprang down gracefully from her high perch and landed directly in front of the open window.

This action surprised Berrisford, but the face of the woman that was revealed in the light of the room within made him blink in astonishment. He recognized her, the face of the transgenics, but also the young woman who had stopped him from killing Alec all those years ago.

Max Guevera was her name, as he'd found out soon after the declaration of the transgenics' independence from the United States Military.

He broke the silence first. "Miss Guevera. May I ask what you're doing here?" He tucked the gun in his jacket pocket.

"It's Max." The dark-haired woman shrugged. "Thought I'd look in on a friend."

Berrisford nodded. "Alec? He's upstairs, but of course you already knew that since you were playing 'peeping tom' just now."

Max relaxed slightly from her previously tensed position. "He forgot to check in before he left. Wondered where he'd gone off to."

Raising his eyebrows, Berrisford repeated, "Check in? You keep track of all the people going in and out of that little city of yours? Or just him?"

The girl scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he said, smiling. "Do you want to come in? It's a bit inconvenient talking through this window." He stepped aside to let her pass.

Max shook her head. "No. Thanks, though. I gotta jet. I just came to see that he wasn't in any trouble or anything. Good talking to you." She turned to leave.

"Wait," Berrisford stopped her. "You…you care a lot about him? You always seem to be nearby whenever I see him."

There was a pause as Max thought over his question and how she should answer it. "Well yeah," she said finally. "He's my friend. One of my best friends." She glanced upwards at the room upstairs from which the sounds of the piano could be heard reverberating through the house. "I haven't seen him this happy in ages. Maybe even never," she said with a short laugh and a quick flicker of envy flitted in her dark eyes. "He's like a kid in a candy shop."

Berrisford made a noncommittal sound. "Yes, they are making quite a racket up there, aren't they?" he observed.

"Well, that's Alec for ya. Can't walk into a room without bringing the volume up a notch or two," Max laughed quietly.

"That's the way it is with Sarah, too. She brightens this dreary old house up considerably. I'm almost afraid to think what it would be like without her," Berrisford said in a suddenly somber mood. "Rachel was a talker, too. She was always trying to engage people in conversation. I always thought she would have made a good politician," he mused.

Max looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry about your daughter. I only know about her from what Alec's told me, but from what I can tell, she was a really nice girl."

Berrisford shook his head and sighed. "It's no use dwelling on old memories. It only hurts you more in the long run. What's past should stay in the past. It's the future that counts now. I learned that the hard way."

Another loud bang and a screech of "Da-aaad!" made the both of them turn their attention upstairs. Berrisford chuckled. "Well," he sighed melodramatically, "I better go tell them it's bedtime for nine-year-olds." He quirked a smile at the curious look the brunette was wearing. "Wish me luck."

Max really laughed this time. "Good luck. Don't let Mr. Family Man keep her up all night. We've got an important meeting in the morning and I need him to be fully functional tomorrow."

Berrisford chuckled. "Alright, I'll be sure to tell him that. Goodbye now. Have a good night." He moved to close the window.

Max threw out a "Later," before disappearing into the night, her dark-clothed figure melting into the shadows.

Berrisford sighed and finished closing and locking the window. Stopping at the desk, he put the gun away and downed the rest of his glass of liquid courage. The he made his way to the music room.

Alec was sitting on the floor and Sarah was leaning over his left shoulder trying to grab at the piece of sheet music Alec was holding in his right hand. His left arm was employed in keeping her behind him and out of the reach of the paper. Both were laughing hysterically.

They looked up as Berrisford entered the room. He raised his eyebrow at them in mock annoyance. "What are you doing down there? I thought you were teaching her how to _play_ the piano."

Alec and Sarah pasted on identical sheepish grins. "We fell?" Alec improvised with a shrug.

Berrisford's laugh started deep in his stomach. "Well of course you did."

Alec got up and helped Sarah to her feet and brushed her off. "Of course."

Berrisford looked down at his flushed granddaughter. "Sarah, bedtime." He gestured towards her room with his head.

Sarah pouted. "Ten more minutes?"

"Sarah." Sternly.

"Fine." She heaved an immense sigh then perked up. "Can Dad put me to bed?"

Alec blinked. "I—uh…I don't really know…I've never—"

Sarah interrupted brightly. "That doesn't matter. You'll _know_ how. Please?"

Darn those limpid emerald eyes. And those damnably cute dimples. Alec allowed himself a moment of indecision before he glanced at Berrisford to see what he thought of the whole situation. He got a badly suppressed grin and a nod in reply. "Um. Okay."

"Just clean up in here first, alright, Sarah? No goofing off, then straight to bed," Berrisford said, picking up one of the loose papers lying by his feet. The room was carpeted with sheet music.

"Yes, Grandpa," Sarah replied obediently, diligently scampering about to gather the paper scattered around the room.

After a few minutes, she looked at her father standing near the piano, organizing the music he'd just collected in its proper order. "Hey Dad?"

Alec looked up. "Yeah?"

Sarah took a deep breath. She was suddenly nervous. "What was the first thing you heard Mom play? Can you play it for me?"

Stunned for a moment by the unexpected request, Alec swallowed before sitting down at the shining black instrument. His fingers ghosted over the white keys, finding their place as if they had a mind of their own. His eyes met Berrisford's and he knew they were both remembering the melody the anguished father had once taunted the former assassin with.

The first strains of the Chopin piece resounded in the room, now devoid of the rustling of shuffled papers. Alec's listeners were captivated; they were awed into silence by the amount of emotion in the music flowing out from Alec's fingertips. "This was the first song she played." Alec flashed a grin at his audience. "Then she did this." The classical piece suddenly morphed into a familiar jazzy rhythm. "That's why I liked her. She was different. And funny."

Sarah giggled. "I read about that in her diary. I just wanted to hear you play it."

Alec smiled in remembrance. Patting the grand piano, he stood and closed the lid. "We all cleaned up?"

Berrisford nodded. "Just about." He took the papers from Sarah and put them together with his on top of the piano.

Alec scooped up an armful of squirming nine-year-old. "Let's get Birthday Girl ready for bed then."

Sarah giggled and clung to her dad like a little monkey. "Good night, Grandpa."

"'Night, Sarah." He gave her a big smacking kiss on her cheek, eliciting a delighted laugh. "Alec?" he stopped the younger man. "Max came by earlier and asked me to tell you that she needs you 'fully functioning' tomorrow, whatever that means. Don't keep her up too late," he said with a pat on the X5's shoulder.

Alec arched a brow. "Max came by? I thought I heard her, but I wasn't sure. Huh. She followed me. Figures. The leash that woman keeps on me. Alright, no worries on that point." Sarah chose this time to yawn. It was so big that her jaw cracked. Alec chuckled. "Sleepyhead. Come on."

-----------------------------------------------------

It turned out that Alec did know exactly what to do to help his daughter get ready for bed. He even tucked her in correctly with her new teddy bear cuddled up beside her. Except for one thing. He was about to reach over to turn off the light and turn on the cat-themed night-light when he was interrupted by the sleepy demand of "Story!"

Alec blinked. Right, a story. He sat down on the edge of the bed and racked his brain for a suitable tale to tell a young child. He cleared his throat and began. "Once upon a time—"

"Dad?" Sarah interrupted with a yawn.

Alec leaned down. "Yeah, sweetheart?"

"I like Max. She's _awesome_," she murmured drowsily. "You like her, too, don't you?" Her eyelids were so heavy that her eyes were reduced to mere green slits.

Alec was taken aback. "Well, yeah, of course I like her. She's my friend."

Sarah pried her lids open with some effort. "No, not like _that_. Like, you know." She waved her hand and yawned again. "I wouldn't mind, and I don't think Mom would, either. She'd want you to be happy." Her eyelids fluttered again in her struggle to stay awake.

Alec was silent. With the advice she'd just given him, she reminded him of Joshua; a strange comparison between the biggest and smallest people he knew...and loved. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks." He stroked her hair, so much like her mother's, and kissed her temple. "Go to sleep now, baby."

"Story." The order came out decidedly slurred this time.

Chuckling quietly, Alec acquiesced. "Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there was a handsome prince who lived in a dark castle with all his brothers and sisters and an evil king and queen. One day he met a charming princess with beautiful dark hair, and he fell in love…"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: …And there was the semi-promised kinda M/A-ish ending. Didn't want to offend M/L lovers too much, but hey, if Sarah's okay with it…right? Heh.

Sarah's so cute that she's really easy to spoil. Sigh. Bad fictional parenting. Slaps fingers for typing it like this. And Alec mopes and cries far too much, but I can't help that, either. I love angsty Alec, poor guy.

This is the last chapter of this story. Well, what did you think? Too sappy? Anyone go diabetic from all the sweetness?

I've received a few requests for a sequel. Who's up for it? I've got some ideas, but nothing really solid, so if you want it, let me know, and I'll get on it.


End file.
